Anyone, and I do mean anyone – can cook a slab of salmon to perfection! Aside from this quick marinade, as in 10-15 minutes quick, that seals the deal –  if you do nothing else, heed the following advice! Regardless of what you do to prep your salmon, you must, must, must resist the urge to touch, turn or tinker with your fish – you have one chance, and one chance only to end up with perfectly cooked, intact salmon! In other words – keep your mitts off the fish! I can’t stress this enough – it’s the constant touching, turning & tinkering that sends fantastic to floundering (pun intended) faster than speeding bullets, light, sound and any other speed cliché you can think of. What you gotta have is faith – and if you do you will be rewarded with the most flavourful, succulent, slab of salmon ever to pass your lips. Talk about salmon enchanted evening – sorry, I couldn’t resist – and apparently, I’m not the only one!

Choose any cooking method you prefer – in a pan, in parchment or foil, in the oven or right on the grill – whichever method you choose, make sure it’s screamin’ hot, coupled with a tasty marinade, a cook with self-control and you’ve got yourself a winner, winner, salmon dinner!

click here to jump down to the grilled salmon recipe

1. Get yourself a fresh gorgeous hunk of salmon – this can be steaks, fillets, on or off the skin.

2. Get the marinade ingredients ready to go – dijon, soy sauce & olive oil.

3. Blue agave (could be honey or maple syrup) & garlic go in next.

4. Mix the marinade all around and add the salmon.

5. I’ve put a couple of pieces on foil so you can see how you can grill right in the foil as well, if you’d rather.

6. Spoon on the marinade before sealing up the package.

7. And this package can now be placed right on the grill – no flipping required.

8. After a quick soak in the marinade – place the salmon on the grill – and just leave it there – do not touch!

9. After 3,4,5 minutes depending on the thickness, get your metal spatula right under the fish, keeping contact with the grill grate, loosen the fish and carefully turn it over. I use 2 spatulas, and leave it alone!

10. This has been turned once – leave it for another couple of minutes and then turn off your grill (if gas) or remove the grate entirely if you’re using a charcoal grill.

11. Remove it carefully to a board and get ready for one of the tastiest things that can come off your grill! Enjoy as is or check out a few destinations for your grilled salmon below.

12. Similarly, what’s in the foil is just as moist & flavourful, minus the grill marks!

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Kale chips – sounds like an oxymoron – contradictory words that end up next to each other – and here are some of my  faves,  so here we go – good grief, pretty ugly, butt head, free trade, crash landing, civil war, found missing, small crowd, deafening silence, act naturally, only choice, exact estimate, living dead, genuine imitation, random order, constant variable, plastic glasses, alone together, clearly confused, seriously funny, Hell’s Angels, virtual reality, original copies, freezer burn, minor crisis, tragic comedy, and I’m going to add kale chips to the list.

And to really blow your mind, check this out – the bumper sticker read “help cure cancer”, now wait for it … the driver was smoking. Smoking! Woooow! Back to my list – jumbo shrimp, boneless ribs, white chocolate, hot chili, ice tea, and one of my favorites – junk food. In my never-ending pursuit of healthy alternatives to all things nasty, but oh so very appealing (like potato chips), these chips deserve your attention – not a bad way to scarf a kilo of kale!

click here to jump down to the kale chip recipe

1. Get a pile of gorgeous kale.

2. Cut out the thick stem leaving just the leaves and tear into chip sized pieces.

3. Put in a colander and rinse well.

4. Spin dry . Get the kale as dry as possible.

5. Put olive oil, salt and seasonings in a large bowl and mix well.

6. Add the kale and toss thoroughly to coat.

7. Spread it out on a cookie sheet in an even layer. Very important. You want chips not steamed kale!

8. See? After about 10-15 minutes, the kale shrivels up, loses it’s moisture and gets as crisp as can be.

9. Pile it on a plate and get another batch ready for the oven. Do this for as long as you want kale chips.

10. More piles on plates, more kale headed for the oven.

11. And there you have it … kale chips.

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Lemon poppy seed muffins scream the 1990′s almost as loud as scrunchies, line dancing & pogs (remember them?) and have made an appearance on dessert trays ever since. It’s such a glorious combination on it’s own but is also an opportunity to switch it up – from the flour to the seeds to the supporting players. Healthier whole-grain pastry flour stands in for regular, pumped up chia seeds stand in for poppy and coconut oil & flakes bring added flavour & texture, not to mention added health benefits! These started out innocently enough, fell off the rails as I rallied my stand-ins, recovered, ending up with a zippy, tangy, lip-smackin’ little muffin, all in under an hour!

So, what do I mean “fell off the rails … rallied … and recovered” – coconut oil is solid at room temperature and resists mixing into cold liquids, so when the cold milk, cold eggs, agave and coconut oil started whizzing around, it looked like the effects of global warming – little coconut oil glaciers floating randomly at sea, refusing to make peace with the cold milk. What to do? I added half the dry ingredients, beat it into submission, which brought the sea back together, then simply added the loose batter to the bowl with the other half of the dry stuff. I would do it like this again, as opposed to liquifying the coconut oil in the first place. Don’t want to be messin’ with hot oil in my batter! Just thought you needed to know that every muffin session ain’t a cake walk, but hopefully it ends up as one! 

click here to jump down to the glazed lemon coconut chia seed muffin recipe

1. First, zest and juice the lemons.

2. And set aside.

3. Measure the dry ingredients and stir to combine.

4. Get the wet together.

5. Add the eggs.

6. Start whizzing. This is where the effects of global warming showed up – little coconut oil glaciers refusing to make peace with the cold milk & eggs.

7. So I added half the dry ingredients and beat it into submission.

8. Add the loose batter from the mixer to the bowl with the other half of the dry stuff.

9. And fold away until no flour streaks remain.

10. Fold in the coconut, chia seeds & lemon zest.

11. This was an afterthought – lemon extract to push the lemon flavour. This could be added to the wet at the start as well.

12. Fill your muffin liners 1/2-2/3 full.

13. And presto – lovely golden lemony warm muffins just beggin’ for a lip-smackin’ glaze!

14. But first, look how lovely and airy!

15. And golden on the bottom.

16. This is a 1:1 ratio of blue agave & lemon juice – stick with the ratio and you’ve mastered lemon glaze 101 minus a boatload of sugar.

17. Take your tester (or anything that can make little holes) and pierce your muffins all over. The glaze will now seep ever so cleverly into the muffin.

18. Using a pastry brush, start brushing the glaze generously over each muffin.

19. Until their all glazed up.

20. The end.

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Oh, I know it don’t look like much, but out-of-this-world often doesn’t! I thought this was a mishap – but not so fast, I tasted and pondered – it’s on par with dried fruit (chewy & leathery) and it’s also ridin’ with chips & nuts (all crispy & crunchy). One thing is for sure however, it’s absolutely and utterly addictive! I was originally going for roasted garlic with the hopes that the microwave would cut it and I could bypass turning on the oven for a measly head or 2 of garlic – something like the sink versus the tub argument, depending on what your washin’!

So today it’s so simple that it doesn’t even qualify as a recipe – simply wrap cloves of garlic in parchment paper (skins on) and microwave in one minute increments – 2 maybe 3 times depending on the power of your microwave. Allow it to cool before unveiling. It’s like Christmas morning – depending on the size of the clove, the larger ones are chewy, like dried fruit, the smaller ones are crispy, like nuts – a divine combination! I scarfed them right off the parchment and of course quickly realized that these little nuggets would be heavenly atop pizzas, pastas, dips, salads, rice, vegetables, soups or stews. I’ll leave you with a pot of perfectly cooked pasta, generously drizzled with olive oil, blasted with parmesan and loaded up with these little babies – finished with a good crack of pepper and a few red chili flakes – oh Lord – I think I gotta go put on some water …

1. As you can see, I was heading for the oven – that’s foil gettin’ ready to wrap –

2. Switched to parchment.

3. Wrap it up like a present. And leave it like this –

4. DON’T flip it over and seal it completely –  steam will need to escape. I didn’t heed this advice and had a kapow or 2 I could’ve done without!

5. And this is what you’ll find after 2, 3, 4 – 1 minute increments – just check as you go and stop when it’s to your liking.

6. You can see the crispy, crunchy.

7. And the larger cloves are chewy.

8. There’s not much in the dish, cause it went like this – one for the dish, one for me, one for the dish, one for me, one for the dish, one for me … so next time I’m making a heckuva lot more as apparently self-control is a bit of an issue!

I make this almost once a week, aside from oats, any grain, nut, seed and dried fruit I have on hand can end up in granola. Synonymous with hippies, the 60′s, their health and a few nuts – granola was what early health nuts were consuming, like it was growing on trees, and it kinda tasted like it was – you know – mostly bark, which left your bite still chewing way longer than it should have! Fast forward to the 21st century –  granola’s image has had a Carson Kressley-style makeover – which certainly explains how all those fruits, nuts, glitz & glamor wiggled their way into a batch of granola. So if you think granola comes in a bag you find at the grocery store, with 10 grams of fat and at least that in sugar, not to mention the price – think again.

Granola is one of the easiest things to make yourself and it’s really a method rather than a specific recipe. Start with 2-3 cups of oats and the rest is up to you – oat bran, wheat germ, bran flakes, flax meal, nuts, seeds, spices, a sweetener, a little oil, salt – liven it up with coconut, extracts like vanilla, maple or almond, orange zest, applesauce, fruit juice or use apple juice from frozen concentrate, it’ll make your granola crisper – about a 1/2 cup or so. Mix it all up, bake until golden delicious – stirring often – let cool, invite dried fruit to the party and you’ve got yerself some serious rockin’ granola! So here we go – this is just one of many variations – add what you like, leave what you don’t – you’re makin’ granola!

click here to jump down to the granola recipe

1. You got yer oats.

2. You got yer oat bran.

3. You got yer sunflower seeds.

4. The same of sesame.

5. Whatever chopped nuts you like.

6. Brown sugar will start the sweetening.

7. Cinnamon is spicin’ it up.

8. Coconut got an invitation.

9. And they join the oat mixture.

10. A little honey, blue agave and oil complete the wet ingredients – honey is on the bottom, then blue agave and then the vegetable oil. And next time, I will put the oil in first, swirl it up the sides, then add the sweet stuff so it’ll all slide out like butta!

11. Stir it into the oat mixture.

12. Get it all thoroughly mixed.

13. Stir in the nuts.

14. Add salt – it’s the secret ingredient.

15. Mix it around some more.

16. Spread it evenly on a baking sheet and start bakin’.

17. Until nice and golden.

18. Until really nice and golden. Let cool. I know it’s tempting but you must let it cool.

19. Get yourself some dried apricots.

20. Cut them up with scissors.

21. Gather the raisins.

22. Ask the pumpkin seeds to join them.

23. And only after you let it cool down (you did let it cool down didn’t you?) – stir in your accessories – pumpkin seeds, raisons & apricots. The pumpkin seeds didn’t go through the baking ’cause they were already roasted.

24. Give it a final mix.

25. And there you have it – a big gorgeous batch of healthy, wholesome, hearty, heavenly granola.

26. Put it in a container, add a scoop for handy dispensing – and you thought you weren’t a clever cat! Oh yes you are!

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Thank you Mama Nature! When I got wise to the fact that black beans, God bless ‘em, could be used to create a deep, dark, deliciously dense chocolate brownie, I felt like Gloria Steinem circa 1970 – we’re talkin’ bra-burnin’, smokin’-in-public, takin’-birth-control and you’re-darn-right-I-make-more-than-him liberation! So on that note – black beans bring the texture, cocoa powder brings the flavour and you bring your imagination. With these in your sweet storehouse, you’ll be serving dessert first and often!

These babies are fully-loaded – with fibre, thanks to the black beans, antioxidants thanks to the cocoa powder, heart-healthy fat thanks to the olive oil and a whack of omega-3′s thanks to the walnuts! Now how many sweet decadent delights can bring all that to the table? So the next time you’re craving chocolate, whip up a batch of these and sit there, right out in the open as you enjoy your new found freedom – no more sneakin’ around – even Gloria Steinem would burn her bra over these!

click here to jump down to the double chocolate black bean brownie with walnuts recipe

1. Get the drained and rinsed black beans in a blender/food processor along with the olive oil.

2. And give it a good whiz, scraping down the sides as you go.

3. Gather the rest of the players headed for the blender.

4. Add the eggs …

5. Along with the rest of the blender ingredients.

6. Melt the chocolate and add that too.

7. Purée the works until completely smooth – it will be thick.

8. In another bowl measure the flour, baking powder & salt.

9. Add the contents of the blender and mix well.

10. Get the chocolate chips and walnuts ready.

11. Add them to the batter.

12. Fold them in.

13. Spread the batter into a greased 9″ x 9″ pan and bake for 30-40 minutes.

14. Place the pan on a rack to completely cool before slicing.

15. Cut into squares.

16. And admire your chocolatey, moist black bean brownie!

17. To add a hint of sweetness and a decorative spin, take any object with openings in your kitchen (a spatula works great), get a little powdered sugar and a sieve for easy dispensing.

18. Place the spatula over a brownie.

19. Get a little of the sugar in the sieve.

20. And gently tap it over the spatula.

21. Remove the spatula and you have a classy little brownie – and that’s just the beginning.

22. Place the spatula perpendicular to the first set of stripes to make a checkered pattern.

23. Just like this.

24. Or try it on an angle.

25. To create a different look.

26. Use anything with holes – this is a disc from my meat grinder attachment!

27. To create yet another pattern. So have a look around your kitchen, you’ll be surprised what can be used to create designs atop anything!

28. And voilà – yummy black bean brownies with walnuts – they’re delicious with or without the sugar.

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When you start with the 3 most vital vegetables in any  cook’s pantry, one thing is guaranteed to be in every pot – flavour, flavour and more flavour – and not just any flavour – deep, rich, complex, can’t-get-it-any-other-way flavour! And that’s what pretty much happens when the first things on your board are onions, carrots & celery! And of the 100′s of possible outcomes, it’s easy to see how entire cultures have built their national cuisines atop these 3 simple ingredients – and one of the very first outcomes was split pea soup, which has been doled out in Europe for centuries, 100′s of them – let’s just say the pyramid builders scarfed it back on their lunch breaks! Fast forward a few 1000 years and we’re still scarfing it back – with or without the ham, and there’s as many variations as you can imagine – I’ve got you started with a few switch-ups below.

Split pea soup is a classic, gotten more exposure as soup-of-the-day than the Kardashians have in  ”reality”, and thankfully, is a heckuva’ lot easier to digest! So start creating flavour like you know what you’re doing – because you do! Trust the zillions of belly’s that’ve come before and kept split pea soup on the menu since man was hunkered down over a pile of bricks, throwing a few pyramids together!

click here to jump down to the split pea soup with ham (or not) recipe

1. Get the holy trinity diced up.

2. Get them in a hot pot with a little olive oil.

3. Measure your split peas and get your bay leaves ready – the only aromatic at this classic party!

4. Give your peas a rinse.

5. Get your stock ready, I use bouillon paste.

6. And that involves water.

7. Stir in the bouillon – and you’ve now got stock!

8. Add the rinsed split peas to the pot.

9. Then the stock.

10. Add the precious bay leaves and give it a good stir.

11. On goes the lid.

12. Now I’m using a pressure cooker and that’s for 12 minutes and then I put it on to slow cook for a couple of hours which seems to bring some real love to the pot.

13. And this is what you’ll find before you give it a stir.

14. If you’re using ham or anything else for that matter, dice it up – if not, it’s ready to go.

15. Stir in the ham.

16. And it’s ready to serve.

17. Enjoy!

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Keeping the integrity of the method intact, this is a perfect meat sauce to serve over pasta, spoon into a bun sloppy joe-style or even serve in a dish nacho-style. First, understand the method – it starts with mirepoix – the classic combo of onion, carrot & celery, and then ground meat – pork, beef, veal, even chicken livers or sausage, alone or in combination. Then the wet stuff – canned tomatoes, wine & broth set to a long slow simmer. Milk finishes it off and time does the rest – the secret that all those of Italian descent have known since meeting their first ragù – it’s time that renders an award-winning pot of ragù. So thanks to your food processor, a big pot and a long slow simmer, a gloriously legit ragù is yours for the taking and will give the classic ragù Bolognese a run for its money – and that ain’t no bologna!

click here to jump down to the beef ragù recipe

1. Get the 3 musketeers plus garlic in your food processor.

2. And give ‘em a good pulse.

3. Heat a large pot over medium-high, swirl with olive oil, add the finely diced 3 musketeers plus garlic and sauté 5-10 minutes.

4. Add the ground beef – it could be any combo of ground meat you like.

5. I use a potato masher to break up the meat and move it around – works great.

6. Keep moving it around until it’s cooked through.

7. Now for the wet stuff.

8. Down goes the can of diced tomatoes and again, I use the potato masher to break them up further.

9. ‘Til it looks like this.

10. Red wine is next.

11. Then the broth.

12. Give it a good stir and turn up the heat.

13. Bring the mixture to a boil before turning it down to a low simmer.

14. Let it simmer uncovered for a couple of hours, stirring occasionally.

15. After a couple of hours, you can see the depth of flavour – and now it’s time for the secret ingredient.

16. Hot milk – simply heat in the microwave for 30-40 seconds. Whole milk is best but use what you prefer – and for those with dairy issues – use rice, almond or soy, just make sure it’s unsweetened.

17. Down goes the hot milk and simmer for an additional 20-30 minutes.

18. And there you have your finished ragù – do you see how it’s “light” in texture – that’s a classic ragù.

19. Cook up some pasta – tagliatelle is traditional but any pasta will work despite what the purists say.

20. Pile a little pasta in a shallow bowl, spoon on some sauce and get ready to be speechless for at least as long as it takes for you to finish what’s in the bowl and go back for seconds!

21. See the pool of glorious juices, that’s what you’re looking for and that’s what I mean by “light” – they will be slowly absorbed by the pasta, along with a little help from some rustic bread!

22. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil & a sprinkle of cayenne pepper or paprika – buon appetito!

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Fabulous fritters! Once I wrapped my head around the fact that virtually any vegetable can be broken down, tossed with egg and flour, hit with flavourings, give or take a little cheese, spooned into a hot pan to crisp up – I was in fritter fairyland, wearin’ the vegetarian, gone gaga for greens, head over heels for the little honeys! Thankfully, fritters have come out of the deep-fryer and onto the stovetop – so even when a recipe calls for vats of oil, ignore that – la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, I can’t hear you! Simply heat up a heavy skillet or 2, swirl in enough oil to coat the pan and drop the batter in by the spoonful, spread it out a little, leave until the edges brown, flip and finish for another 4 minutes – you’ll be making fritters ’til the cows come home – and the cows will be comin’ home, ’cause cow ain’t what’s on the menu!

The most important thing to remember is – please, please, pleeeease don’t let a fritter recipe take you down, meaning the only thing that must make it into a vegetable fritter is the vegetable, flour, egg, s&p – any special flavourings, cheeses or other additions are merely extras and should not stop you from frying up a fritter! Like – “oh no, I don’t have capers, sorry, can’t make that!” I will be featuring various fritters in the days and weeks to come but hear me, and hear me now – if you’ve got vegetables, you’ve got fritters! Oh happy day!

click here to jump down to the zucchini fritters recipe

1. Grate the zucchini.

2. Slice the scallions.

3. Gaze upon your goat cheese – this is herb, but plain will work just fine.

4. Then crumble it up.

5. Add the eggs to the grated zucchini and give it a stir.

6. Add the flour, dill, salt & pepper and mix again.

7. Scallions & goat cheese are next – the goat cheese will make your fritters creamy dreamy – perfect atop a slice of toasted olive bread – you’ll see!

8. Using the back of a fork, smear the goat cheese into the zucchini to thoroughly incorporate. See?

9. Grate a little cheese, if you want – and I want! Completely optional.

10. Stir it into the zucchini mixture.

11. Drop by the spoonful into a hot oiled pan.

12. Niiiiice.

13. After about 4 minutes the edges will begin to brown which is your signal to flip.

14. 1, 2, 3 – flip!

15. Perfectly golden discs.

16. Just like this.

17. Keep making batches until you’re out of batter.

18. One flip is all it takes – don’t be messin’ with them.

19. Move them to a plate and get ready to serve ‘em up in style.

20. I happen to have olive bread which I toasted and rubbed with a little garlic – any rustic bread would be delish.

21. Give it a little drizzle of olive oil.

22. And lay on a fritter. This is especially nice with fritters made with goat cheese as it melts into a creamy consistency which works perfectly on a slice of toasted bread.

23. I’m ready for my close-up!

24. Guess what? I put a whack of broccoli in the food processor and pulsed it to perfection.

25. Added the usual suspects – egg, flour, sliced scallions & garlic.

26. Spooned it into my hot pan for a mess of broccoli fritters.

27. 4 minutes later – flip!

28. And onto a plate before they disappear.

29. This here, is what all the fuss is about! Are those carrots over there? To be continued …

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We’re talking cans and an opener, a couple of crunchy veg like celery, peppers, red onion, a little acid (vinegar/citrus juice), a dollop of mustard, half to thrice the oil, S&P for sure, and flavourings to suit – onion powder, garlic, oregano, thyme, basil. Master this, and you’ll be set for life! Really.

If I get excited about any recipe, this would be one of them.  Just like knowing your times tables, or having the key to the city, understanding the vinaigrette, especially over beans, will open up a whole new world of combinations. It improves with time and could not be easier to make. A vinaigrette is a fancy word for a simple oil and vinegar dressing, that can be doctored in 1000′s of ways. Add what you like, make it your own, respect the process, and you can’t go wrong. Be sure to taste, taste, taste, as it will be the fine tuning that will make it a masterpiece. If you like it zippier, up the vinegar; if you like it smoother, reach for the olive oil; sweeter? You know what to do – so … go … go … go make bean salad!

click here to jump down to the bean salad trio recipe

1. Grab the beans of your choice.

2. Put a colander in the sink; open, drain and rinse the beans.

3. Get the rest of the ingredients together.

4. Put all the dressing ingredients in a large bowl and whisk vigorously to combine.

5. Add the chopped vegetables to the dressing and mix well.

6. And of course, add the beans, you are making bean salad.

7. Mix well and give it a stir every so often to distribute the dressing.

8. Grab a spoon and dig in!

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