Coconut tilapia noodle bowl

Leftovers. The original recipe was saucier.

Greetings from quarantine! Since this pandemic is forcing us all to find new things to do at home, and ways to stay connected remotely, I am reactivating my food blog after a 6(!) year hiatus.

The pandemic has affected different people in different ways, but for me, one of the biggest changes is how much I am cooking! Prior to the pandemic, I probably cooked 2-3 times a week - one big cooking night to make food for a week's worth of lunches, and maybe one more dinner throughout the week. Breakfast was cereal and almond milk, grabbed on the go at work. Otherwise, I ate out - a lot. Most socializing happened over a meal, so even the nights I wasn't rushing from work to an evening activity, I was probably meeting a friend for food instead. Now, however, trying to minimize my trips out of the house means that I'm cooking pretty well every meal. In the three weeks that I've been self-isolating, I've had a total of two take-out meals. My boyfriend has lovingly cooked another 5 or 6. Otherwise, it's been me, 3-4 times a day, trying to figure out what I can make that's exciting.

Up until today, quarantine cooking has mostly involved a lot of soups, including my favourite yam-coconut-lentil soup, and a semi-successful attempt at the Burgoo butternut squash soup. I've also made a lot of tuna melts and breakfast sandwiches, along with many variations on pasta. I've also been keeping my cooking fairly safe - for the purposes of the pandemic, I have moved in with my boyfriend, which means that any cooking failures affect a second person's dinner as well - high stakes! And, of course, the other complicating factor to pandemic factor is that I can't just whip out to the store to pick up an ingredient I'm missing - we're being strongly encouraged to shop only once a week. I'm used to shopping on an as-needed basis - picking a recipe, going to the store, and buying just enough for that recipe - so it's an adjustment to have to cook from the basis of "what do I actually have in the fridge?" That tends to result in a lot of repetitive meals.

However, it's been three weeks, and a person can only eat so many tuna melts. I've also had time to build up my ingredient stores, and I've been seriously missing Vietnamese and Thai cuisine – two of my go-tos for eating out, but not cuisines I'm super-skilled at cooking. Add in some bok choi that needed using up, and a night of experimental cooking was fated.

Before I get to the recipe (and I promise, I will eventually get there), some background on the inspiration for this dish. Last fall, I made a couple of trips to The Union, a restaurant in Chinatown focusing on Asian fusion. I really enjoy their "Cha Ca Hanoi", which they make as a sour-and-spicy coconut milk soup with "cod, turmeric chili coconut milk, baby bok choy, vermicelli, nuoc cham, fresh herbs, scallions". As best as I can tell, this dish was inspired by a famous Hanoi tumeric-and-dill fish dish; however, they had very clearly modified it, because as best as I can tell, the original isn't a soup (I could be wrong, though, not having tried it myself when actually in Hanoi). And I was going to modify it further, since I didn't have all the ingredients, and also because I don't actually like dill. What I created is, I think, something in between the traditional hanoi fish and a Malayisan laska, with a fair amount of substitution to allow for a mostly-Western pantry. So I don't even really know what to call it, but I am pleased to say that it was delicious, and very comforting. My boyfriend gave it two thumbs up. And then strongly encouraged me to post it to my food blog. So, here we are!

Coconut tilapia noodle bowl

The fish marinade is taken from Epicurious' recipe for Hanoi Grilled Tumeric Fish with Dill and Onion (minus the dill). I then tried to parallel the flavouring in the broth as well.

Fish:

• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1/2 tablespoon fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons finely diced shallots [I used finely chopped onion instead]
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3 fillets of tilapia (or any other white fish; I think basa, cod or catfish is more traditional)

Broth:

• Remainder of the onion, sliced thin
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1+ tablespoon grated ginger
• 4 baby bok choy, separated: stems sliced, leaves chopped
• 1 tsp tumeric
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (or any kind of chili, if you have one on hand)
• 3+ tablespoons fish sauce
• Juice + zest of 1 1/2 lemons if you have limes, I'd recommend using limes instead!)
• 150g rice stick noodles (~1/4 of a bag) - think phở or pad thai size
• ~2 cups water

Instructions:

1. Mix all marinade ingredients together. Add fish and mix in a freezer bag. Refrigerate while preparing the rest of the ingredients. (The original recipe I used recommends not to marinate >30 minutes because it gets too salty. I don't disagree.)
2. Thinly slice the rest of the onion. Heat a pan over medium heat, and add oil of choice (I used coconut). Add onions and sauté until starting to soften
3. Add garlic, grated ginger, and sliced bok choy stems. Continue to sauté. If needed, add water (a little at a time) to help the bok choy steam a bit
4. Add tumeric, stir to mix with the veggies, and cook for another 1-2 minutes, until veggies are soft and dark yellow.
5. Add the coconut milk, red pepper flakes, chopped bok choy leaves, fish sauce, all zest and ~2/3 of the lemon/lime juice. Simmer until the boy choy leaves have wilted.
6. Taste and adjust flavours - add more fish sauce and/or lemon/lime juice to taste.
7. Add rice sticks, and ~2 cups of water. Cover the pan and let the noodles cook/steam. (Note: you could also cook the noodles separately in boiling water and add cooked noodles to the sauce. If you do that, omit the water.)
8. Meanwhile, heat a separate pan over medium-high heat.
9. Remove fish from marinade. Discard marinade. Pat fish with paper towel to remove excess marinade from the fish surface.
10. When the pan is hot, add oil of choice and fish. Cook 3-4 minutes/side, until the fish is cooked through.
11. Break the cooked fish into chunks, and mix into the broth and noodle mixture.
12. Eat and enjoy!

Things I would do differently next time, if I planned ahead to have the ingredients on hand:

• Use shallots instead of onion in the marinade
• Use lime juice and zest instead of, or in combination with, lemon
• For extra flavour and greenery, add chopped green onions when adding the bok choy, and add lots of cilantro at the end

You made brownies out of *what*? – GF/vegan black bean brownies and peanut butter-chickpea squares

Legumes (i.e. beans and peas, as well as peanuts) are one of the major sources of protein in my diet. So when I discovered that I could make desserts out of legumes, I was thrilled: not only was this an easy way to make a gluten-free dessert, but it also came with a protein hit that made me feel less guilty about the amount of dessert I was eating. Once I add in ground flax seed (instead of eggs), they're practically health food! And usually they are "throw everything in the food processor" recipes, which are my favourite - less effort, fewer dishes - what's not to love?

The classic legume-based dessert are black bean brownies, which have been a staple of gluten-free desserts for a long time, in part because they are so easy to make: instead of having to buy fancy gluten-free flours, one only needs to puree a can of black beans (usually available for <$2 in Canadian supermarkets). However, traditionally black bean brownies depend on a lot of eggs to hold them together. I rarely buy eggs and so I try to find recipes that don't use them, both for allergy reasons and also just convenience, but it's taken me a number of years to track down a vegan black bean brownie recipe that works. But never fear - I have succeeded!

Shortly after, I was introduced to a recipe for peanut butter-chocolate chip squares. They are sweetened with maple syrup, and thus are fairly low sugar (unless you buy overly-sweetened chocolate chips, like I did by mistake). But definitely an awesome high-protein snack when the sweet tooth kicks in.

Gluten-Free, Vegan, Oil-Free Chocolate Layer Cake - Yes, It's Actually Good!

As I've recently mentioned extensively, I've been busy learning how to cook and bake for someone who doesn't want any added oil in their food. They're also vegan, gluten-free, and allergic to almonds. Add in my soy allergy, and this is a whole ridiculous can of specialty-baking worms. But it was a special occasion, and I wanted to make sure that he got to have his birthday cake and eat it too. So I turned to three of my trustiest sources: my Forks Over Knives Cookbook for an oil-free cake recipe, Gluten-Free Goddess for a tried-and-true gluten-free flour blend, and my trusty repertoire of cooking tips picked up from years of watching Food Network.

This recipe took a few tries to get right, and is a bit more finicky than my usual go-to gluten-free/vegan mocha cake recipe. I initially made this new recipe in cupcake form, and while the cupcakes turned out ok, the outsides were a bit tough and separated from the insides. The second time round, when I was baking the cake pictured above, I tweaked the flour blend (originally I'd used a store-bought GF flour mix) and was more careful with the melted chocolate to make sure it didn't seize. This turned out much better. The recipe as written makes for quite a flat cake, though, so for prettier presentation (and to feed more people), I turned it into a layer cake. Add a strawberry vanilla filling and sugar-and-oil-free fudgy frosting, and I had myself a cake that was popular with even the non-diet-restricted party goers. Plus, it looks pretty damn gorgeous, if I do say so myself!

Rockin' Moroccan Stew: Variations on a Theme

The best part of the Looneyspoons cookbook series is definitely the recipe names.  The cookbooks are by Janet & Greta Podleski, and other titles in the series include Crazy Plates and Eat, Shrink & Be Merry. The books feature easy, low-fat recipes, although I have issues with the amount of sugar that's used in many of the recipes to replace the fat. Despite this unfortunate tendancy, several of their recipes are definitely winners, and Rockin' Moroccan Stew is definitely one of them. (I'm also a big fan of On Golden Prawns, a curried shrimp dish.)

I first made this recipe as a teenager, when I still lived at home and was still learning to cook things more complicated than grilled cheese sandwiches and tuna salad - although, believe you me, I made a mean tuna salad. Anyway, I made the stew, thought it was tasty, and then forgot about it for years, until a family reunion last year when one my cousins busted out the recipe to feed a vegan relative.  Having been reminded how incredibly delicious this recipe actually is, it's become a staple of my kitchen.

However, the recipe didn't stop there. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have a relative who has gone not only vegan, but completely fat-free as well. That means no cooking things in oil, no adding in any nuts or oily ingredients for flavour, etc. As it turns out, with some modifications, this recipe converts very well to an oil-free form. The flavour is a bit different - it's less creamy and tastes a bit more like chili - but it's still an extremely delicious option for anyone needing to cut fat out of their diet. We've served it alongside catered food at parties, to rave reviews. And this recipe also works very well in the crock pot, for easy preparation.

So here I present Rockin' Moroccan Stew, three ways: the original recipe, my modifications (for taste), and a fat-free alternative option.

Fat-Free, Refined-Sugar-Free, Super-Rich Chocolate Fudge Frosting

Fudgy frosting on top of my favourite mocha cake recipe

Imagine a rich, decadent chocolate cake frosting, which incidentally also tastes great on ice cream (or substitute of choice), and makes a great base for chocolate milk. Now imagine I told you that this frosting was completely fat-free, and also didn't use any icing sugar - in fact, it only has 1 tbsp of maple syrup, and the rest of the sweetness comes from fruit.  That's right: the whole frosting is based around dried dates.

Well, if you're like me, you're probably pretty skeptical. I certainly was when I first came across the recipe. But the end result won me over completely. This is now my go-to frosting recipe. It's safe to feed to all my friends and family with food restrictions, and better yet, it's easy to make, keeps in the fridge for weeks, spreads better than any chocolate icing I've made before, and I feel almost completely guilt-free when eating it.  And I have fed it to at least 50 people, all of whom thought it was delicious, and none of whom noticed it wasn't full of a million calories.

Tahini Salad Dressing

I am a huge fan of tahini. (This isn't surprising, as I am a fan of anything sesame based - spinach gomae salads, sesame mochi desserts, the sesame-sugar wafers sold 3/$1 at grocery stores, etc.)  Originally brought into my kitchen for the purpose of making hummus, which I used to do a lot, it has since because a key component of my vegan bechamel sauce, and a handy replacement for peanut or nut butter when I want toast but haven't been to the store in awhile. For a Greek-themed party earlier this year, I even made a gluten-free version of tahinopita (a vegan cake that uses tahini to replace the oil, dairy and eggs).  But over the past couple of years, I have started to obsess over tahini in a new form - as a sauce/salad dressing.

Muffins and Cupcakes

Recently, I have been going to a lot of parties - specifically, brunch parties.  Now, most brunch foods aren't especially portable to begin with (pancakes, French toast and waffles all tend to go soggy), and those that are (e.g. quiche, cinnamon buns) don't tend to work very well with a gluten-free, dairy-free, low-egg diet.  So, I decided it was time to start experimenting with muffins. And once I pulled out the muffin tin (and my mini muffin tin, i.e. my newest kitchen baby), well, there was no stopping me.

The beauty of muffins and cupcakes are that they are portable. The beauty of a mini-muffin tin is the ability to make party-sized muffins (there are lots to go around). And because muffins and cupcakes are baked in the same tins, there is a nice continuum between "healthy muffins" and "totally decadent cupcakes" (banana cupcakes fall somewhere in the middle of this spectrum).

So I thought I would share two of my new favourite recipes. One is a hearty muffin recipe, perfect for breakfast or brunch; the other is a luscious mocha cupcake recipe, perfect for dessert for all parties. Both have the added benefit of being gluten-free and vegan!

The Most Heavenly Soup Ever to Come Out of My Kitchen

So last weekend I was in Victoria, home of some of the best gluten-free and vegan eats in the province (although with places like Bandidas and The Wallflower, Vancouver is still definitely in the race). But anyway, I was at Santé Gluten-Free café (which is on Quadra near Hillside, and I recommend it to anyone gluten-free in Victoria - lots of dairy-free options too!), and I noticed that in their frozen soup section, they had a coconut-kale blended soup.  Well, this sounded like pretty much the greatest thing ever, so I made a mental note to try making it as soon as I had a chance.  I did a bit of googling for recipe suggestions, but mostly put together a soup with what I already had on hand.  The end result was a creamy, rich deliciousness that I haven't experienced since I could have potato-leek soup with real cream.  I am in soup heaven.  (And to think that two years ago I was convinced that I could never make a decent pot of soup.) Plus, in addition to two bunches of kale, the soup is also full of red lentils, for protein and fiber, and sweet potatoes, which have a shockingly high number of nutrients.  So it's delicious AND healthy!  (Except for the coconut cream, anyway...)

Luscious Lemon Cupcakes - the Holy Grail of Gluten-Free, Vegan Party Treats

A year and a half ago, I made the most amazing cupcakes.  They were lemon-vanilla, with a lemon-coconut frosting, and a big hit with everyone that tried them.  I had discovered a perfect recipe, gluten-free, vegan, soy free, and fairly easy to make sugar-free; and as soon as I finished the batch, I resolved that I would make these cupcakes again soon.

One problem: I couldn't find the recipe.  

Recipe Outlines: Potato Salad and Curried Fava Bean Pasta

It's been a long time since I posted.  A very, very long time.  Lots of things have happened since then - among other things, I went to Asia and fell in love with Thai and Cambodian food, then came home and decided the ingredients were just too expensive to bother cooking it myself, and now obsess over trips to Thai House and Banana Leaf.  And I constantly think "oh, remember when I made the amazing ____ (lemon cupcakes, shepherd's pie, etc.)?  I wonder what I put in it" and then dutifully rush to this blog to look it up, because of course I remembered to write down this wonderful recipe for posterity - but then of course I didn't.  And so, because I have gotten so frustrated with myself, over and over, I am going to include some very basic recipes - no measurements, bullet point instructions, no photos - so that in eight months when I think "remember when I made that awesome potato salad?", I can actually figure out what I made!

Two recipes to start today: mayo-free summer picnic potato salad, and curried pasta with caramelized onions, roasted cauliflower, and fava beans.

Banana Goodness

I've been on the quest for a good banana bread for a long time.  Even before the allergies hit, to be honest.  I eat a lot of bananas, but I don't always manage to eat them all in time.  My freezer fills up with bags of banana chunks, or, if I'm especially pressed for time, bunches of whole bananas which have turned black from the cold.  (Which doesn't in any way impact the fruit inside).  I need something to do with these bananas, and banana bread is one of my favourite foods.  My mom used to make a fabulous banana bread when I was growing up, sweetened with honey and pureed dates and made with whole wheat flour instead of white.  It was healthy enough that she let me eat it for breakfast, which was the ultimate treat (cereal can get quite monotonous!)  But it's hard to puree dates without a blender, so I always knew I was going to have to find a new recipe.

Last summer, in my very brief spelt-flour baking stage, and in search of a recipe I could make for a baking-deprived diet-restricted friend, I discovered an absolutely fantastic recipe for banana bread.  It won me great accolades, and because it was vegan, whole-grain, high in flax and had no refined sugar, I deemed it healthy enough to eat at any time of day.  However, it didn't take long after that before my body to remind me that spelt was very definitely not gluten-free.  I spent months searching for a replacement recipe, and made some absolutely horrid banana breads along the way.  (One was flat, burnt, and the middle fell out when I tried to remove it from the pan.  Disaster!)  And then recently, I stumbled upon a wonderful, moist, whole-grain, high-protein, delicious spiced banana muffin recipe.  I'm not picky, I'll take my banana baking in whatever form it comes, and muffins were more than good enough for me.  The recipe claimed to be a cupcake, but I claim it was just banana bread in disguise.

Guest Post: All About Icing

Hey everyone!  I have a guest post up today on GeneGeek, talking all about the science behind icing (yes, the frosting kind), and how to modify icing recipes for hard-to-accommodate diets!  GeneGeek is a blog run by a friend and mentor of mine, and its focus is translating science (genetics especially) into English - how to communicate science to non-scientists, how to improve science education, how to relate science to the real word, etc.  You should check it out, it's pretty awesome!  And if you're looking for a way to jazz up a gluten-free vegan chocolate cake, or some tasty gluten-free vegan banana brownies, you should definitely check out my post for all your icing needs.  Happy baking!

Gltuen-Free Challenge Day 1: Shopping

Warning: This blog post does not contain recipes.  It is instead a series of observations and ramblings about food shopping when half the grocery store is likely to make me ill.  But if you tune into my blog primarily for food pictures and descriptions, this entry may disappoint.

My Two-Week Gluten-Free Challenge

A lot of reading I've done recently (and primarily accidentally) has brought up an interesting concept: the idea that gluten is addictive. On the surface, I'm not shocked.  I would be the first to confess to a past "muffin problem"; and of all of the foods I have to stay away from, bread products (and cinnamon buns) are some of the hardest.  But if you asked me, I would have put it down simply to carb cravings.  If sugar cravings are a thing (and I can certainly testify that they are for me), I would assume that white-flour based foods are equally addictive for their carbohydrate properties.  Now don't get me wrong, I like rice crackers and corn tortillas well enough, but there just isn't the same variety of carbs in my gluten-free diet to compete with my pre-allergy state.  So while I fully confess I have bread compulsions (the fact that both my jobs provide a lot of free bread doesn't help), I never would have thought to blame gluten.  I didn't need to get past the sugars.

But what this gluten addiction theory proposes is somewhat different.  It proposes that gliadin, the protein in gluten that is also the cause of the majority of gluten allergies, activates opiod receptors in the gut.  (Those would be the same receptors that recognize opium, morphine, and heroin.)  In other words, it's not the sugars at all that are the problem, it's the proteins.  And anyone consuming even trace amounts of these proteins are continuing their addiction.

So, being the curious scientist that I am, I decided I was going to investigate. This proposed investigation has two parts.  The first (and easier, if more boring) step is to conduct a better investigation into the science behind these claims.  I want to look at the research that exists, what conclusions have been drawn, and how much of this story is internet speculation.  The second, and much more impacting (and harder) step is to cut out gluten, entirely, out of my diet.  For at least two weeks, although I'm aiming for a month; we'll see how I do.

The Best, Bar-None, Gluten-Free Vegan Cake Extravaganza You Won't Stop Talking About

Wow, it's been a long time since I updated.  Seriously blogging fail.  The past few months have been crazy busy, but that still doesn't excuse neglecting my favourite pet project.  So, here's my attempt to get back on the wagon and keep everyone updated on delicious allergen-free eats.

It has been brought to my attention that I have yet to share my favourite gluten-free chocolate cake recipe.  This was, incidentally, the first-ever gluten-free recipe I tried.  I had googled a whole bunch of gluten-free vegan recipes without really knowing what I was getting myself into.  I don't remember why I picked this one - if it seemed the easiest, the tastiest, or what.  But I dutifully went out and bought several new ingredients I didn't understand and couldn't really pronounce, and rolled up my sleeves, and gave it a try.  I was absolutely panicked, especially after I tasted the batter - it was incredibly grainy.  But the graininess baked off (this is a common issue with rice flour batters), and the end product was heavenly.  Let me repeat that.  Heavenly.  I have frequently made this cake, for diet-restricted and non-diet restricted alike, and it has always been unbelievably beloved.  It doesn't taste like it's fake anything - it's moist and delicious and rich and decadent.  (Needless to say, it set my standard for gluten-free baking pretty high).

Muffin Madness

As I mentioned here, I've kicked off Christmas baking season at my house, and I'm starting to experiment with some gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free and egg-free baking recipes.  At some point, I plan to go back to my rice flour sugar cookies, which are already reminiscent of shortbread, and see if I can kick them up another Christmas-y notch.  (Cranberries and candied mixed peel, perhaps?)  However, today I thought I'd start my investigation of cakes and muffins.

What makes Christmas baking?  For me, it's all about the spices and the fruit.  All other times of the year, I'm all over the chocolate - chocolate cake, chocolate brownies, chocolate chip cookies, etc.  But once December hits, then the dried fruit comes out.  I did a survey of my baking cupboard today: sultana raisins, golden raisins, currants, craisins, apricots, candied ginger, and candied mixed peel.  And then I moved onto my spice cupboard, where I found cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, and allspice.  What to do with all this bounty?

It's my goal this season to find a really good spice cake recipe that I can turn into a fantabulous layer cake, using my super-secret apple filling.  (Ok, not that secret - I promise, once I've finalized the recipe, I'll pass it along).  However, today, I wanted to make individually-portioned baking, because I also need December  birthday baking for my choir.  So, I opted for muffins instead.

Christmas Baking: A Trial Run

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted.  Drat being employed, it so gets in the way of my blogging habit...

Anyway, I have a few recipes I've made since then (vegan "shepherd's pie", apple-cranberry crisp, gluten-free apple pie, and even some Thanksgiving recipes) which are hanging out in the back-log, but I thought I'd jump back into blogging with something a bit more relevant.  Namely: holiday baking.

I got thrown into the holiday spirit fairly early this year; my roommate decorated our entire house for Christmas (including a giant Christmas tree) on the 30th of November.  Plus, the week before that, we had a huge snowfall (like, 10+ cm).  Now, in Vancouver, it doesn't snow.  Certainly not often, and most definitely not in November.  So the minute I see snow, I immediately think Christmas, because the earliest it normally ever snows is the week before the holidays.  All of which is to say, after spending most of November fighting the oncoming holiday fever with every bone in my body, I've now jumped solidly on board.  I haven't sent out my cards yet, or bought presents, but I have started my favourite part of holiday preps - baking.

Vegan Gingerbread Cookies

This recipe has been used by my family for as long as I can remember.  Unfortunately, it's not gluten-free.  But it is vegan; and more than that, it's tons and tons of fun to make.  The batter itself is my favourite part, because it makes use of the baking soda-vinegar foaming reaction.  My mom, on the other hand, prefers the fun of rolling out the dough and cutting out the cookie shapes.  (We make a pretty awesome baking team!  She is also the cake-decorator in the family to my cake-baker).

The dough in this recipe needs to chill for a minimum of several hours before it can be rolled.  At first, this may seem like an inconvenience; but in my opinion it's really a blessing in disguise, because the dough can stay chilled for extended periods of time.  (We've left the dough in the fridge for up to a week with no ill effects.)  Our general strategy is to make huge recipe in one go, and then portion into smaller batches of dough we can roll, bake and eat as we need it and/or as we have time.  Once I left home, I would generally do my favourite part (the mixing), stick the dough in the fridge, and then bring it home with me when I went back for the holidays so my mom could have fun cutting out the cookies. 

The short baking time also makes these cookies ideal for classroom (or Sunday school) use - bring in the dough, pre-made and chilled, and let the kids have fun rolling, cutting, sprinkling, baking, and eating!

A Holiday Salad to Remember: Cranberry-Orange-Avocado with Maple-Glazed Walnuts

This past winter, I was part of a 3-month, residential, personal development program for young adults.  One component of the program involved cooking for one another.  We were split into cooking groups, and each group was responsible for two meals over the three months.  My cooking group lucked into cooking Easter dinner, and decided, in order to accommodate all the food restrictions in our group, to cook a gluten-free, vegan meal.

The cornerstone of our main course was my rice dressing recipe, but we still needed a couple of veggie dishes.  We ended up opting for glazed carrots, and this salad recipe, which was recommended by one of my other group members.  The recipe features mandarin oranges, glazed walnuts, craisins, avocado, and blue cheese (which we decided to omit, since half our cooking group had dairy allergies).  I expected the salad would be tasty, but I was shocked how amazingly it turned out.  It was completely devoured, and even people in our group who hated walnuts with a fiery passion went back for seconds and thirds.

The Key to a Good Salad: Some Glazed Nuts, and a Killer Dressing

I want to share one of my secrets to sounding like a much fancier cook than I am: glazed nuts.  Have you ever gone to a restaurant and seen a salad served with "maple-glazed pecans" or "honey-glazed walnuts"?  Sweet, maybe a little spicy, with an aura of gourmet - not bad for a garnish or a salad topping.  Well, guess what: they are also one of the easiest things ever to make.  Glazed nuts are one of my go-to desserts, because I feel less guilty eating a lot of sugar if that sugar is wrapped around some protein.  They're also an easy snack food, and, most importantly, they make for one damn fancy-sounding salad.

But what is a salad without the dressing?  I am constantly frustrated by store-bought dressings.  Almost all of them feature dairy, or eggs, or soy products, or beet juice (all-natural colouring!)  Some salad dressings that have absolutely no need for dairy (such as honey-mustard) still use milk ingredients for flavour!  It's infuriating.  Luckily, years ago a family friend (who also happens to be a personal chef) taught me the key to a good dressing, and now I would like to pass it along to you.

So keep reading to find out my two secrets to an amazing salad.  Once you have a dressing, and some fancy nuts, the rest is easy!  Wash and shred some lettuce; or, if you're like me, and hate the salad spinner with a fiery passion, invest in one of the bags or boxes of pre-washed salad greens.  Chop up whatever veggies or fruit you happen to have on hand.  (May I suggest roasted red pepper, tomato, and strawberry?  Or avocado and black bean with some chopped tortilla chips on top?  Or some kiwi fruit and celery?  Honestly, whatever you have on hand works; and you can adjust your dressing recipe to match!)  Then pour on the dressing, top with some nuts, and enjoy!