Sweet And Smoky Tomato Soup

The kids are back filling the streets and the campus, making the Starbucks line that much longer.  I find myself missing the feeling of back to school.  The fresh start, with a new agenda, new notebooks, and new coloured pencils.  In grad school, everything just keeps on going like it always did. 

Herby Almond Pesto Pasta

Things are a bit of a whirlwind lately.  Got back from Boston with just enough time to do laundry and pack again it seems.  I’m not complaining.  This trip to Strasbourg is last minute and exciting.  But making dinner after a full day of traveling when there’s no groceries in the house can be daunting.  Especially when you only have a couple of days at home.  Don’t want to stock up too much fresh food.  But don’t want to eat out after a whole weekend of eating away from home. 

Avocado, Radish, and Sweet Pea Salad

I like salads without lettuce.  Lettuce is just filler that you have to pick around to get to the good stuff.  Chewing through a pile of leaves doesn’t make me excited.  But then I realized that I can control my own salad fate.  Lettuce forget about lettuce (haha).  

Raw "Brownies" or The Best Healthy Snack Bar

Sometimes I wish I was the type of person that went running every morning.  I wish I could eat a salad for dinner and then not crave dessert.  I wish my house was ready to entertain at a moment’s notice.  I wish I knew how to do my hair in a variety of different styles. 

But the truth is, I would much rather sleep in then get up early to run.  I chew flavored gum after dinner to trick my dessert craving.  There is a food processor in my entertainment unit and a box of different types of flours on the dresser in the bedroom.  The dining room table is never actually used for eating.  My desk is covered in post-its with recipe ideas and to-do lists.  And my hair is always up in a pony-tail bun thing. 

But I’m happy to clean up if you say you’re coming over.  I will gladly bring baked goods to any event.  I would go running with you if you asked me to (you’d probably beat me).  You’re welcome to join me for dinner on my cozy couch while watching something fun.  I have the best intentions. 

These raw brownies were full of good intentions.  I wanted to believe that I could replace my regular brownie recipe with one full of healthy ingredients like dates and nuts.  But as good as these bars were, don’t call them brownies.  They are however, some of the best healthy snack bars I’ve ever tasted.

One thing I’ll give these bars is that they are fast!  No baking.  Just press into a pan lined with parchment and refrigerate until ready to cut.  They are also vegan, gluten-free, and refined sugar free! 

Walnuts and cocoa powder provide the base.  Dates add a caramel sweetness and bind everything together.

Making these will make you feel like a better person.  They can totally calm a sugar craving after having a salad for dinner.  But if someone asks me to bring brownies to a party, butter, chocolate, sugar, and eggs will be on the ingredient list.  That’s just me. 

Raw “Brownies” or The Best Healthy Snack Bar 
From My New Roots

2 cups whole walnuts
1 cup cocoa powder (or raw cacao if you can find it)
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 1/2 cups pitted Medjool dates
1 cup raw, unsalted almonds (optional)

Process walnuts in a food processor until they are finely ground.  Add cocoa and salt and pulse to combine.  Add dates one at a time through the processor feed tube while it is running.  At the end, the mixture should look like moist crumbs that will stick together when pressed with your fingers.  If they don’t stick together, add more dates. 

Give the almonds a rough chop and mix them into the date mixture.  (I had the almonds in, but next time I’ll either chop them finer or not put them in at all.  I found they broke up the texture too much and made everything fall apart a little too much.) 

Press the moist crumbs firmly into an 8 inch square pan lined with parchment paper.  Refrigerate to make them easier to cut. 

Spicy Broad Beans (Baked or Fried)

When I was in Boston recently, I had the chance to meet up with my very first PhD mentor from the very first lab I worked in.  Back then I was scared, inexperienced, shy, and Catherine made it so easy to get started.  She made science cool, and no doubt is a big reason why I am still in science now.  Not only that, but she was instrumental in getting my first TWO peer reviewed publications.  And although I now realize that I did a lot of the repetitive work that she didn’t want to do, I will always appreciate every minute of it.  It shaped me as a person and as a scientist.

There are some memories that I will have forever from that time.  Our daily walk to Tim Horton’s in the morning.  Talking about yoga and sometimes demonstrating poses.  And eating spicy beans.  These things were brought by another co-worker, and they were dangerous.  We must have demolished at least one bag of spicy broad beans a day. 

So when I showed Catherine my food blog and she asked me to post some recipes for vegetarian snacks, I decided recreating the spicy broad beans was perfect.   

Kale, Dragon Fruit, and Coconut Smoothie

I am training for a 10k race in May.  The race is in May, not the training.  The training is now.  Or at least it was until I got reinjured.  

Injuries are the worst.  I had the best intentions of sticking to my training schedule and now I can’t!  But of course I still feel guilty.  As if I was faking the injury just to get out of training.  It’s all so silly.  Runner’s guilt, who has felt this before?