Roasted potato, mushroom and green bean quinoa with tarragon, dijon and lemon dressing

Since I have known what it felt like to be really stressed out, I have been intensely fixated on the slow and fast beating and skipping of my own heart. It was my third year of university, my first year living away from home in a city two and a half hours from where I grew up that I became really driven to do well in school. Where drive and determination lead the way, a proportionate level of stress is sure to follow closely behind.

I think it all began with a conversation I had with my microbiology course lab partner, Lisa. I told her that I was planning to do a double major in Microbiology and Biochemistry and she replied with a frustrating amount of doubt and discouragement. She knew someone who had followed that same path and believed the feat to be a futile one. 

Although, up to that point I had never been overly academically competitive, I refused to be told that their was something scholastic that I could not do. I could not imagine that completing a jam-packed schedule of science courses would be overly difficult. I forged ahead, signed up for the full semesters of classes educating me on an invisible world and lied awake many nights with cue cards of molecules, microbes and medicines rotating about in my mind.

It was during those sleepless nights when I began to notice my heart and to really contemplate what my heart was. What it looked like, how it beat, how it played a vital part in keeping me breathing and moving and thinking and living. When I was really stressed, tired, dehydrated and especially when I was hungry I noticed that my heart would flutter. It was a flutter that would, just for a fraction of a second, take my breath away.

It never worried me too much, but when I would go to the doctor and they would listen to my heart I would always ask, "It sounds okay?" or "You don't think it is beating too fast?". Once I was told I had a heart murmur, but for most young and healthy people, this does not mean much. A few years ago, the fluttering and beat-skipping of my heart had me so paranoid that I started to solicit the doctor to run some tests and figure out why my heart would periodically feel like it had decided to skip a beat or two. Nothing came of it, all of my tests were normal except for one, I had really low iron.

I took some iron supplements for awhile, but this metal has a constipating side effect. My focus on eating nutritiously may have been born out of an interest in getting iron from a meat-free diet. This is when I started to find ways to pack things like quinoa, tofu, lentils, chickpeas, spinach and potatoes into my diet. I read that using a cast iron skillet was also an efficient way to add iron to food. From there, I started to think about all of the different so-called super foods and started to investigate ways of getting as many of them as I could into my body.

As I grow older, and as I continue to push myself through the challenging world of science and research, I am always thinking about my heart and my brain. I want to keep them young and healthy and well fueled. So my food choices, the fact that I eat a lot of vegetables and whole grains, are motivated by my desire to nurture the parts of me that keep me alive. 

When my heart skips a beat it reminds me that I should drink water, eat something with iron in it and get some rest. At about noon everyday, when I am zipping through my to do list at work and all of the sudden my brain starts to feel foggy and my eyes start to cross it reminds me that my brain needs fuel, a boost, before I will make it through the rest of the day.

This quinoa is the perfect lunch, brain and heart food to make you feel like you can tackle the second half of a long day. I like to keep my lunches light, otherwise I suffer from a serious three o'clock energy crash. Although a salad is not super-filling I find it energizing in a way that a heavy meal just is not. Refreshing, invigorating and delectable, just the way me and my heart like it.

Roasted potato, mushroom and green bean quinoa with tarragon, dijon and lemon dressing

Ingredients

1 potato, peeled and chopped into 1 cm cubes

1 cup chopped fresh green beans (2 inch pieces)

12 mushrooms, cut in quarters

2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed

Sea salt

Extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup fresh tarragon leaves

3/4 cup dried quinoa

Dressing

2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tbsp dijon mustard

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon

1 tsp honey (maple or agave syrup for vegans)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375F.

2. Heat water to boil on stove, add chopped potato and boil potato about 4 minutes.

3. Drain potatoes and allow to cool.

4. In a bowl, toss green beans, mushrooms and potatoes with crushed garlic, sea salt, olive oil and tarragon. 

5. Roast vegetables for 20 minutes, tossing once halfway through cooking.

6. Meanwhile, cook quinoa in a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain quinoa and set aside.

7. Make dressing by whisking together the listed dressing ingredients or shaking them together in a tightly sealed jar.

8. In a bowl, toss the quinoa and roasted vegetables together with the tarragon dressing.

9. Serve quinoa and vegetables warm.

Broccoli, leek, sun-dried tomato and dill mini-quiches

What is it about miniature things that make us love them more than their regular sized counterparts? Kittens and puppies, smart cars, mini-eggs, mini-golf, baby shoes, miniature world, cherry tomatoes and cupcakes. Is it because they appeal to our evolutionary impulses to care for the small, young and vulnerable?

When my sisters and I were young, we had a lot of toys. Dolls of all sizes, Barbies and Kens, dress up clothes for us and for the dolls, puzzles, toy animals, shelves full of books, toy dishes and all sorts of games. Our toy room was always a mess and we were frequently transporting arrays of colourful and deeply-loved toys outside, to our backyard, to the park behind our house and to friend's houses.

Needless to say things would get lost, broken and left behind all over the neighbourhood. But there was this one little toy which never went missing that me and my sisters would always go crazy over. It was a little plastic baby, about 2 cm small. The plastic baby had painted on a light yellow shirt, frilly yellow and pink shorts and was positioned in an eternal crawl. It was just so cute and tiny and we were always amazed when we would stumble upon it; that something that tiny had not disappeared in that mess of a room. One of us would be digging around in a bin and would pull it out and we would all just exclaim at its cuteness.

There was not much we could do with that baby. It was too small to be Barbie's baby, you could not change its clothes or even lay it in a pretend crib. It was just cute to look at. So after we were finished admiring how teeny tiny and cute it was it would just get tossed aside to be uncovered again a few weeks or even months later.

Fortunately these mini-quiches are more than just something cute to look at. But the fact that they are miniature makes them just all that more appealing then a full, pie-sized quiche. They are easy to snack on, quick to cook and extremely simple to make (because I skipped the crust). Just four eggs, a cup of milk, some cheese and tons of veggies is all it takes to make these healthy and delicious egg-y cakes that, when paired with a simple salad make a light and pleasing dinner.

Broccoli, leek, sun-dried tomato and dill mini-quiches

Ingredients

1 tbsp oil 
2 cups chopped broccoli

1 leek, chopped

2 shallots, chopped

1/4 cup dill, roughly chopped

Sea salt

4 eggs

1 cup 1% milk

Sharp white cheddar - 1/2 cup grated
Butter for greasing muffin pan
5 Sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced

1/4 cup of goat cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F.

2. Heat cast-iron pan to medium heat, grease pan with grape seed or vegetable oil.

3. Stir in leeks and shallots and stir, cook a couple of minutes.

4. Stir in chopped broccoli and cook about 7 minutes or until everything is tender. In the last couple of minutes of cooking, stir in dill and season with sea salt.

5. Take vegetables off of heat and allow to cool.

6. Whisk together eggs, milk and cheddar cheese.

7. Grease the bottom and sides of a regular sized muffin pan with butter. I take a cold chunk of butter and rub it inside each cup.

8. Divide the egg mixture evenly among the 12 muffin cups.

9. Add the vegetables to the muffin cups, dividing them up evenly and pushing down gently into the egg mixture.

10. Top cups with a little bit of sliced sun-dried tomato and a small amount of crumbled goat cheese.

11. Place muffin tin in oven and bake 20 minutes.

12. Remove from oven, let cool and serve. The little quiches should slide easily out of the pan (if it was greased properly).

Lemony lentil and quinoa salad with roasted garlic

Ten things that I love about the warming weather:

1. The fact that it is getting warmer.

2. Enjoying the breeze coming in through the patio door (as opposed to yelping at Mike for leaving the door open).

3. Running outside to get the mail in bare feet.

4. Iced coffee and slurpees.

5. Being able to watch the sunset on the roof-top without freezing my butt off.

6. Not having to lug around a sopping wet umbrella.

7. Wearing an old favourite pair of jeans that were ready for the trash but are now a comfy pair of cut-offs.

8. Going for jogs and bike rides without having to wear gloves and my headband.

9. People-watching people being happy and enjoying the sunshine.

10. Seaside picnic dinners.

I think by now, wherever we are, we are all enjoying some nice, long-time-coming, warm weather. I heard a rumour that the last time Vancouver was above 20 degrees was last September. That is one long stretch of chilly weather. I was beginning to feel like the clouds and the greyness and the soggy rain would linger forever.

Some days, when the winter is long and spring is supposed to be coming but it just has not yet, you can sense the tension in the air. You cannot get from A to B without being honked at, almost side-swiped by an umbrella, shoved on the bus, having someone snap at you and just wanting to run home and curl up under the blankets for eternity. But once that sun starts shining, and the warm air soothes your nerves you almost forget how awful the winter really was.

Once the evenings can hold the days warmth to sunset, Mike and I will spend many of our dinner-times out by the water. We enjoy some snack-type foods at the waters edge while watching the boats in the bay, fending off hungry seagulls and digging our toes in the sand.  The amount of big fancy meals that I make throughout the winter dwindles in the summer, and instead, I look for recipes that are easy to transport and to eat out of a tupperware container.

Our mini-picnics will usually consist of some bread, cheese, a spread or bruschetta (for the bread), a salad and some fruit. If we have cookies or crackers those will usually be packed away for the picnic as well.

Over the weekend I made this super-duper healthy lentil and quinoa salad. I wanted to make my own Italian-like dressing and did this by whisking together some lemon juice, olive oil, dried oregano and dill and seasoned it with sea-salt and honey. The result was a very nutritious, yummy and rustic tasting salad; if you feel like it needs something more, I would crumble in some tangy, soft goat cheese.

Lemony lentil and quinoa salad with roasted garlic

Ingredients

~3/4 cup dried lentils, soaked a few hours or overnight

1/2 cup quinoa

6 garlic cloves, sliced the long way

4 sun-dried tomatoes

1/2 avocado, chopped

1/2 cup chopped baby tomatoes

1/4 cup chopped watercress

3 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp dill

1/2 tsp oregano

Sea salt

1 tsp honey (maple or agave syrup for vegans)

Directions

1 - Preheat oven to 400F.

2 - Set 2 pots of water to boil.

3 - Chop garlic and wrap in tinfoil. Roast about 45 minutes, or until soft.

4 - In one pot of water, cook lentils, simmering, for 20 - 40 minutes (this really depends on the lentils you use and how long you soaked them, so check on them often). Do not let them get mushy. Drain and rinse with cold water when tender.

5 - In the other pot, cook quinoa about 10 - 12 minutes. Rinse with cold water and drain well.

6 - Meanwhile, whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, dill, oregano, sea salt and honey. Set aside.

7 - Thinly slice the sundried tomatoes, chop the baby tomatoes into quarters, cut up the avocado and the water cress.

8 - Remove roasted garlic from oven, chop into smaller pieces or stir into salad whole.

8 - Toss the chopped vegetables with the roasted garlic, lentils, quinoa and dressing.

9 - Set aside, in fridge about 1 hour before serving.

10 - If desired, top and serves with crumbled, soft goat cheese.

Black chickpea tacos with fresh salsa, guacamole and watercress

I am not one to impose my points of view on others. I am soft spoken, polite and the opposite of confrontational. One thing I do not really like to discuss is being vegetarian. It is hard to explain to people in a calm manner something that you feel very strongly about, that you know you cannot convince someone of, unless they are already open to your point of view. The truth is, I wish I could convince everyone to stop eating meat by using my sheer will power.

Instead of trying to control people with my mind, I thought I could use my one true super power - research - to sway people into believing that there are good reasons to decrease the amount of meat they eat. I want to convince you that a life without meat is a life with increased health, boosted energy, a cleaner environment and it may also save you from contracting a life threatening illness. Case in point, Mad Cow Disease. I should say right now, I do not want to scare you. I just want to tell you a little bit about a very interesting disease, because I am a nerd like that.

Why you should eat vegetarian tonight: Mad Cow disease 

Mad Cow disease, also known as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy is a degenerative and fatal neurological disease in cattle. This disease is caused by a unique protein that, in the science world, is called a prion. Prions are a type of protein; they are not a bacteria or a virus but somehow, mysteriously, they are infectious.

As you may or may not know all of the proteins in our body are supposed to fold in a very specific way in order to work properly. For example, you have proteins in your body that release needed energy from fat or sugar molecules. For the proteins to do this, they have to fold properly first. If the proteins do not fold properly, usually, your cells have ways of recognizing and fixing them or getting rid of them.

Prions are unique in that, under the right circumstances, they can fold in such a way that when they touch other prions, they cause them to also fold incorrectly. There is a domino effect of incorrect folding and aggregation (sticking together) of these proteins that our cells cannot undo. The result is the formation of big balls of non-working proteins that build up in the brain. 

These aggregates sadly are toxic to the brain. This toxicity means that the cells in the vicinity of these aggregates die. Physically, the damage is that the abnormal prions cause little holes to form all over your brain, making it look like a sponge. The overall effect is loss of brain function and the manifestation of the characteristic symptoms of CJD.

Everyone has prion proteins in their brain. Some very unlucky people may have a genetic mutation in their prion gene (i.e. they are born with a certain version of the prion) that will cause their prions to fold incorrectly, leading to genetic or familial Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (fCJD) (the human equivalent of Mad Cow disease).

In the 1990s, scientists found a link between people who developed a disorder that resembled genetic fCJD and those that had eaten meat from cattle known to have Mad Cow Disease. They called this disease variant-CJD (vCJD). It appears that eating meat from an animal that has these abnormally folded prions, leads to the eventual misfolding and aggregation of the otherwise normal prion proteins in the consumer human's body which causes vCJD.

I will reassure you (because I am polite and not aggressive) that contracting this disease through eating contaminated meat is extremely rare, and only 2 cases of vCJD occurred in Canada over the last 15 years. I can also tell you that when I see the headlines of new cases of Mad Cow Disease being reported I can rest assured that this is one of those scary diseases that I never have to worry about. And I worry a lot. So the more things I can scratch off of my list, the better.

Meatless tacos are a perfect meal to make when you are trying to convince someone that meat is not required for a satisfying and amazing meal. Many options exist for replacing meat protein with other sources of protein. Legumes are definitely my favourite source but other good options include nuts, tofu and if you are not vegan you can incorporate organic dairy products and free-range eggs into your meals.

Both chickpeas and lentils (see this post) make an excellent taco filling. They can be seasoned in a variety of ways and mixed with an assortment of vegetables to keep things interesting. Other great options are black beans or navy beans. Adding a whole grain like quinoa or brown rice can make your tacos more filling and more nutritious.

At the end of the day, the most important thing for most people is that what they are eating tastes great. I realize this and I promise you these tacos taste excellent. Once you increase your delicious vegetarian meal repertoire with meals like this, cutting down and eliminating meat from your diet will become effortless.

Black chickpea tacos with fresh salsa, guacamole and watercress

Ingredients

Chickpea filling

1 cup dried, black chickpeas (or other dried bean such as black beans)

3 garlic cloves, sliced

1 chopped shallot

1/2 red pepper chopped

2 chopped tomatoes

1/4 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp paprika

Pinch smoked paprika (optional)

Pinch cinnamon

1 tsp honey (agave or maple syrup for vegans)
~1/2 cup of water, more if needed

Salsa

2 tomatoes

1/2 yellow pepper

1 small finely chopped shallot

Lemon or lime juice

Sea salt

Cilantro

Guacamole

2 ripe avocados

Handful of cilantro

Lemon or lime juice

1/4 tsp cumin

Sea salt

Corn tortillas

2 cups masa harina

1.5 cups water

1/4 tsp salt

Soft goat cheese, crumbled (optional - not vegan)

Water cress or lettuce

Directions

1. Soak dried chickpeas in water over night (in the fridge).

2. The next day, heat a pot of water (about 8 cups) to boil on stove. Add garlic, shallots, sea salt and soaked, drained, chickpeas.

3. Simmer chickpeas, partially covered about 60 minutes or until firm-tender.

4. While chickpeas are cooking, make salsa by mixing the salsa ingredients, making sure to toss well in lemon or lime juice. Season with sea salt and set aside until ready to use.

5. Make guacamole by mashing together avocado flesh with other avocado listed ingredients until chunky but evenly mixed.

6. In a large sauce pan, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat. Stir in chopped tomatoes, chopped red pepper and seasonings (coriander through honey).

7. Cook a few minutes, then stir in about 1/2 cup of water. Drain chickpeas (keeping onion and garlic) and reserving 1/2 cup of boiling liquid. Add boiling liquid and chickpeas to peppers and tomato mixture.

8. Simmer chickpeas in tomato mixture while you prepare the corn tortillas (about 30 minutes).

*If the chickpeas are already quite tender, leave uncovered and allow mixture to evaporate. If chickpeas are still quite firm, keep covered for about half of the simmering time.

9. Prepare corn tortillas by mixing masa harina with water and salt. Mix well into a smooth ball. Divide into 16 small balls.

10. Preheat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.

11. One at a time, press out corn tortillas using a tortilla press or rolling pin.

12. Cook tortilla on skillet (no oil required) about 45 seconds per side.

13. Keep tortillas warm on a paper towel.

14. Assemble tacos by adding chickpea filling, salsa and guacamole to the tortillas and top with fresh goat cheese or sour cream and water cress or other dark leafy green.

Creamy roasted asparagus soup

I love stories (I know, who doesn't). Listening to them, telling them, reading them and writing them. I spent my entire childhood reading. At school, I would hide books inside my desk and read them during class in secret. I was scolded on more than one occasion for not paying attention in class. 

At night, after I was put to bed, I would ask my mom to leave the hallway light on. Then I would sneak to the doorway and read my book in the dim light of the hall. When that tactic did not work, I would sneak to the bathroom to continue reading. I struck gold when one of the books I bought from the bookstore came with a reading light. With this gem I could read the night away in the comfort of my own bed. 

I also loved to write stories, poems and character sketches. To this day I have, stored safely away, notebooks and binders filled with my young mind's musings. My first masterpiece was written at the tender age of ten. Writing a story was part of a school assignment which was based on the theme: a picture is worth a thousand words. I still remember the picture; it was of the side of a brick building, painted white. Against the building, leaned a bike, near a mail box. 

My story was of a young girl, who would bike to the post office every day to pick up the mail for her family (I never said I was original). One day, she picked up the mail and discovered a letter that was addressed to her father, referring to him as an officer. She uncovered in the letter that her dad's life was being threatened by a criminal that he had put away in the past. The girl had always been told that her dad was an accountant, and so the story is of her adventure to discover the truth about her father and his secret life.

I still have a hard copy of that story, printed on old computer paper. The kind that had to be torn apart into individual pages and had the edges with the holes in them that could be ripped off. It is practically an antique.

I had also loved to tell stories when I was in grade school; I had quite the imagination. The problem with my tales is that I pretended them to be true, even though they were made up. I remember long bus rides home at the end of the school day, exchanging stories with a friend who am sure was also making things up. We would compete with our stories of who had the craziest life. It was like whoever had the more interesting story would win some imaginary prize.

I was in grade 8 when I realized that there was something wrong with my propensity for telling tales. I remember very clearly being in the midst of one story; I was at home on the phone, sitting at the top of the basement stairs. I was recounting to my girl friend my imaginary day at the fair, with a friend, who I claimed was very sick and was in a wheelchair. After I had told the story I felt so guilty that I immediately confessed my lie, greatly catching my friend off guard. I was so ashamed that I honestly never made up a story again. To this day, I find it impossible to lie and have been known to blurt out the truth even when it has the potential to get me in trouble (for another post).

Today, I made this soup, originally wanting to use up a bottle of milk in my fridge. Instead, nearing the end of making the soup I realized it was perfect (and vegan) without milk. 

My favorite way to prepare asparagus is to roast it, so this is how I prepared it for my soup. While the asparagus was roasting, I cooked leeks, shallots and potatoes in a pot with some vegetable stock. I pureed everything before stirring in the asparagus. If you prefer, you could try pureeing the soup with half of the asparagus and adding the rest of the whole asparagus after.

Creamy roasted asparagus soup

Spring seasonal: asparagus 

In this soup I opted to purée all of the ingredients except the asparagus, which I added to the soup after puréeing. 
With the leftovers I tested out puréeing half of the soup with the roasted asparagus in it and then mixing it all together at the end; this tasted great and added a little bit of a green colour to the soup. 

Ingredients

8 - 10 asparagus spears, chopped into bite sized pieces (tough ends snapped off)

Olive oil
Sea salt
2 cloves of garlic

1 leek chopped

2 small shallots, chopped

1 large, russet potato, peeled and chopped

3 cups of vegetable stock

Chopped chives

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F.

2. Toss chopped asparagus in olive oil, sea salt and 1 crushed garlic clove.

3. Spread asparagus on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and roast for 20 minutes, turning once.

4. In a soup pot, heat a tablespoon of olive oil over medium-low heat, stir in chopped leek, 1 clove of crushed garlic and shallots.

5. Cook, stirring frequently, for 8 minutes.

6. Add stock to pot and chopped potatoes. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook 10 minutes.

7. Allow soup to cool, then puree until smooth in a blender.

8. Add soup back to pot, stir in roasted asparagus and reheat.

*Alternatively, purée half of the roasted asparagus into the soup and add the remaining, intact asparagus before warming and serving.

9. Serve soup garnished with chopped chives or green onion.

Soba noodles with kale flowers, mango, crispy tofu and hazelnut sauce

You know your hair is too long when out of the corner of your eye, it scares you into thinking someone (a ghost perhaps?) has crept up behind you. It may not solely be the fault of my hair. Mike creeps up on me on a regular basis. My natural tendency to be jumpy causes me to yelp and scream every time he tries to scare me. It is either time for a new haircut or a new partner.

I have a long list of tasks that I have been putting off until the day that I have time to be something other than a workaholic. I am overdue for a hair cut, a teeth cleaning and also an eye exam. In fact, I have been wearing the same pair of glasses for at least 10 years. The prescription is no longer as strong as my eyes are weak. 

On a camping trip a few years ago my glasses were left behind in the tent which was subsequently rolled up and packed tightly into its canvas holder. I discovered the glasses, all bent out of shape, a few months later on the next camping trip. Since then I have stepped on them numerous times, usually as I trip out of bed in the morning. They sit on my face all crooked-like but I still wear them on mornings when I would rather be blind than put in my contact lenses. Hopefully, once this week is over and I transition completely to my new job I will have time to take care of my hair, teeth and eyes.

I skipped out on some school-related duties this evening, to instead come home and make a noodle bowl dish for supper. I do not want to spend another string of week nights at the local sushi restaurants and for this day I put my food needs ahead of my work needs. No major repercussions have materialized as of yet.

The central ingredient that I designed this recipe around, was a Kale flower bunch that I have had in my fridge since last weekend when I found them at the farmers market. I pulled them out onto the counter today and discovered they still looked as fresh and crisp as the day that I bought them. I really enjoyed the top, flowery part of the kale flowers, but the bottom, stem part I found to be too tough. When I use these again I will cut off the bottom half and discard the stem. I recommend you do the same if you use them in this recipe.

If you are not vegetarian and do not like tofu then I would recommend replacing the tofu with shrimp. This is what Mike would prefer, but I have not yet given up on trying to vegetarianize him. One day I will succeed...

The ingredients for the sauce are a rough guideline that will change depending on your taste buds and also your specific ingredients. For example, some chili garlic sauces are much hotter than others. Also, you may not need much honey if you are using a sweetened nut-butter. If you are using soy sauce to replace tamari, the amount will depend on how salty your soy sauce is. If you don't have rice vinegar, use more lemon or lime juice and vice versa. Lastly, I like my sauce strong and thick, if you find it too strong then thin it out with water or coconut milk.

Soba noodles with kale flowers, mango, crispy tofu and hazelnut sauce

Makes 3 - 4 servings

Ingredients

Sauce

3 tbsp hazelnut (or other nut) butter

2 tbsp lemon or lime juice

2 tbsp rice vinegar

4 tbsp tamari

3 tsp honey (agave or maple syrup for vegans)

2 tbsp hoisin sauce

2 tsp chili-ginger sauce

Water or coconut milk to thin (optional)

Noodle bowl

1 tbsp grated ginger

1 grated garlic clove

1/2 cup onion

1 small zucchini, cut into rounds

1 bunch, kale-flower tops

1/2 red and 1/2 yellow pepper, chopped

1/2 block of tofu, chopped

1 package soba noodles

1 champagne mango, chopped

Green onion

Cilantro

Directions

1. Start by getting the messy, sauce making part of this recipe out of the way. In a blender, combine the hazelnut butter, citrus juice, rice vinegar, tamari, honey, hoisin and chili-garlic in a food processor. Blend until smooth, then set aside.

2. Heat 2 pans and 1 pot of water on the stove. Add a little bit of grape seed or other neutral oil to the pans.

3. When water comes to a boil, stir in the soba noodles and cook until tender.

4. In one pan, add grated ginger, garlic and sliced onions. Cook for 2 minutes then add the peppers, zucchini and kale flowers. Toss a splash of lime juice and tamari into the vegetables. Cook about 8 minutes, stirring frequently.

5. In the other pan add the chopped tofu and season with salt. Cook 4 minutes before turning then cook another 4 minutes. Mix and cook another 5 minutes or so, now stirring about every minute until tofu is nicely and evenly browned.

6. Drain noodles and stir in 2 tbsp of the sauce. Place a serving on a plate, top with vegetables, mango, tofu, cilantro and green onion and top with more sauce. Serve and, as usual, enjoy.