Tiled Blog Layout
Your subtitle goes right here.
Carrot, Beet, and Jicama Salad
Three colorful root vegetables – carrots, beets and jicama – combine to make this delightful, crunchy, and nutritious salad.
Raw beets taste similar to raw carrots in that they’re sweet, juicy, and crisp. Jicama, a Mexican root vegetable that looks like a large, pale, round potato (you can see it on one of the photos below), is crunchy and mild when peeled and eaten raw. If you can’t find jicama, skip it or substitute cubed cucumber in this salad.
This beautiful combination also happens to be extremely rich in antioxidants, making it a terrific choice for preventing a wide variety of diseases. Do your best to find a fresh jicama, as it adds a refreshing taste and crunchy texture to this recipe.
Easy Berry Chia Pudding Pie (No Bake Dessert)
This weekend, I was looking for an easy recipe to make a fruit pie. I searched online and in my recipe books, looking at various traditional recipes, but then I came across this no-bake version made with berries, nuts and seeds, chia seed pudding and vanilla.
Since chia seed recipes have been on my radar lately, as well as I was looking for more ways to use my vanilla bean paste from Tahiti, I decided to give it a try.
It’s a quick and easy dessert, as no baking is required! This is nice, especially on a hot summer day (who wants to spend time in hot kitchen!)
Vanilla Bean Paste (straight from Tahiti, plus the story of vanilla)
I often use vanilla extract in my recipes, but I was not familiar with vanilla paste until a couple of weeks ago. The first time I heard and saw vanilla paste was a couple of weeks ago, when my husband brought me a jar of vanilla paste from his sailing trip in Tahiti.
It turns out that vanilla bean paste is delicious! It is much thicker than vanilla extract; it’s actually a like thick syrup. While the taste is probably a bit strong (not to mention expensive) to, for example, pour on your pancakes, but it’s delicious when added to baked goods or pancakes. You can use the paste in place of vanilla extract in any recipe where you want the beans to shine. Vanilla bean paste can often be found at specialty stores, and you can find it online easily, as well. It can be used in place of vanilla extract in any recipe. I particularly like to use it in things like banana smoothie with vanilla, vanilla pudding (like this chia seed pudding) and vanilla ice cream.
Leek and Potato Soup
Soups, besides smoothies, are some of my favorite meals to prepare. I’m making them almost every other day, so I can say I learned a few useful tricks to make the process super-easy while keeping the results super-healthy. Here is one example: I’m super excited to have one of my soups featured on CookingQuinoa.net website. Check out my recipe for cream of broccoli soup (with quinoa).
This modern take on a classic leek and potato soup makes is faster and lighter than traditional potato leek soup – you won’t miss the fat or the extra time!
Some people may find leeks intimidating, but I love their sweet, mellow taste, and use them very often in my cooking, especially in soups. They work great as a more flavorful substitute for onions. The best way to cook leeks is to “sweat” them, which means cooking them with a few tablespoons of water or oil over pretty low heat until they get soft, but not browned.
9 Breakfast Smoothies Plus 3 More Super-Healthy Breakfast Ideas
With the right planning, it is really quick and easy to start your day off right with a breakfast smoothie. Simply keep a supply of fresh greens, vegetables and greens always available, throw those you want each morning in the blender, and enjoy a quick and simple breakfast at home or on your way out the door. You’ll find that mornings start better with a delicious morning smoothie. Here are some tips and recipes to make it easier for yourself…
Broiled Grapefruit: Super Easy Dessert Recipe
Have you ever tried broiled grapefruit? It’s a wonderfully sweet and tasty addition to any meal or dessert. Broiling brings out the sweetness and tampers the acidity of the grapefruit.
It can easily be modified to use many different fruits such as peaches, apricots, or pineapple.
I strongly suggest cutting sections prior to broiling. Otherwise, you have a very sticky mess on your hands!