Oh! not that it isn’t a very important part of my life. In fact, I work out 6 days out of the week.

RELIGIOUSLY!

I don’t do, miss workouts. Not unless I have a VERY good reason.

I guess if I don’t talk about it much, it’s because I’m not quite as passionate about it as I am about food.

Alright, I’ll be honest. I hate working out.

Still, I know that it’s good for me, and I always feel so much better after I’m done. Plus, working out allows me to eat that much more!

Seriously, the fact that I don’t care much for exercise forces me to constantly find new things to do, because I get bored very easily.

A few years ago, I had picked up running and even ran a half marathon that summer. Oh, I was fairly proud of that one, and fully intended to repeat the experience! I even wanted to run a full marathon for my 40th birthday.

But you see, the thing is I HATE running. I find it way too slow, and long, and boring, and, well, let’s face it, hard! As in NON-STOP hard.

So last year, I didn’t run. I spent the entire summer training in my basement, doing P90X and sweating bullets going crazy at HIIT on my elliptical.

I really missed being out there, though, taking advantage of the beautiful days of summer, so this year, I decided that I needed to find something I could do OUTSIDE!

I think I found the PERFECT thing! Guys, please meet Vince, my new training partner!

Now HE can really take me places! WOW! Talk about speed!

In the 2 little hours that we got to spend together today, we devoured over 50km of road! Now THAT’S interesting.

To think that I had not ridden a bike in well over 20 years, up until just a few weeks ago.

I was really afraid to get “behind the handles” again, but I got the hang of it real fast. It IS true what they say: once you’ve learned how to ride a bike, you just never forget it.

I get the feeling that Vince and I are going to have a BLAST this summer. Let’s just hope that Sally doesn’t get jealous…

You know what though? I think that the best thing about bike rides is the post-ride breakfast!

And can you think of anything better than this beautiful Fruit Salad and Granola Parfait? It certainly satisfied me after my ride. I don’t remember ever having a harder time not digging in until the shoot was over, though. Boy did I badly want a bite of that yummy looking breakfast. Staring at it and taking pictures from all possible angles for what seemed like an eternity felt like pure torture!

I’ve always been a HUGE fan of granola, but sadly enough, most of the boxed stuff that’s available in stores is so sugar laden and high in fat that I tend to just steer clear.

Making my own is pretty much the only way to go for me now. Especially since I’ve been trying to avoid grains, you know. Ever seen grain free granola in a store, you? I know I haven’t…

To tell you the truth, I wasn’t convinced that grain free granola was even gonna work out. But I had such a craving for the stuff, I had to give it a try. And I’m real glad I did! I think it was a huge success.

The resulting cereal is super tasty, super crunchy and super satisfying. You’ve got tons of flavors and textures going on all at once, it’s like this mega party is happening in your mouth with every single bite.

And it goes absolutely deliciously well with home made fruit salad, which, conveniently I had just made a huge batch of and had a truckload of in the fridge…

Add a little bit of vanilla “custard” to the equation and you’ve got yourself this parfait breakfast…

Oh! bliss… we finally get to the point where I can dig in!!! Thank goodness, cuz I was just loosing it!

I am telling you, this foodie almost died with every single bite! Or came… not sure which!

All I can say is it wasn’t long until this is all that was left on the dining room table…

Post-workout meals are just the best!!!

Exercising makes food tastes so much better, doesn’t it?

Or is it just me?

Up until now, though, I’d only ever had them in a soup.

Why is that, you ask?

Well, I happen to really really love that soup, and since I don’t come across fresh Fava beans all that often, I tend to not want to miss out on an opportunity to savor a bowl of that delicious fare.

But this time around, I decided that I wanted had to do things differently.

I mean, change is good, sometimes, isn’t it?

You’ll probably notice that this dish is VERY MUCH inspired by the soup, only it’s got shrimps in it and well… no broth!

Well, you know what?

From now on, I will really hesitate between the two. I guess I will have to buy twice as much beans, because I might very well have to make BOTH dishes.

Oh yeah! This new creation was just plain delicious. The kind of dish that I could eat without end.

So light, so flavorful, yet so simple.

And did I mention extremely quick and easy to make?

The hardest, and longest part, I think, would be to shell the beans.

But, as you can see on the picture below, I’m always in very good company when I do things like that…

Oh, they might pretend like they’re not looking, but don’t let their innocent look fool you. They’re waiting for one thing and one thing alone, and that is for something to fall on the floor.

As soon as it hits the tile, it becomes THEIRS! And that’s when they BOUNCE!

You wouldn’t believe how fast they are. No use trying to save whatever makes it to the floor. Hey, I just have to be careful and not let it get there in the first place, right?

I’m pretty sure that’s what they would be thinking! Silly dogs…

Some people like to peel their fava beans after they’ve cooked. They do have a somewhat tough outer skin, but I happen to really like it. It brings a really nice contrast against the extremely creamy interior. Plus, it adds a very interesting chewy texture. And, I’m sure it’s absolutely loaded with all kinds of nutrients. So why waste it, I ask you?

Still, this time, I chose to peel about a quarter of my beans, just to expose their vibrant green color. I have to admit that they ARE a lot prettier when they are naked. Their skin looks a bit like that of a wrinkled toe that stayed underwater for too long…

If you do choose to peel them, all you need to do is pinch one end with your nails to pierce the skin, then squeeze the opposite end between your thumb and index fingers. The interior will come right out.

I need to warn you, though. This IS very time consuming, so you better be patient if you’re gonna do this.

I’m afraid I’m not that patient.

So skin stays on!

I mean, so far, I’ve given you muffins, brownies, cakes, quiche, tartlets, and even pizza!

Yet, there’s this one super simple recipe, perhaps too simple even, that I hadn’t even bothered sharing with you until now.

I guess maybe it was just TOO easy and obvious…

Of course, it’s a smoothie!  What else?

Hey, I mean, it sort of combines my 2 obsessions of the late into one!

Seriously, though, since you’re already making the milk, it’s just a no brainer to me. You just HAVE to take this opportunity to make a smoothie.

EVERYTHING can be turned into a smoothie, can’t it?

This one is just too easy. Basically all you need to do is reinstate some of that pulp (which you’ve just worked so hard at extracting) back into your milk, add a few more ingredients, take the whole thing for a spin and voilà! You’re all set!

Yeah… I know what you’re thinking: why bother with removing the pulp if I’m gonna put it right back in?

I so totally hear you!

If you don’t want to be bothered with doing that, just take the easy route and simply save some “unfiltered” milk for the sole purpose of making smoothies!

Trust me, you won’t regret it…

That smoothie has this beautiful and delicate flavor to it, it’s not overly sweet and has a really smooth, rich and creamy texture.

Just take a look at that collar!

I’ve only got one thing to say about that…

YUM!

Does this really qualify as pizza?

Not sure…

I mean, we are so far from that first image that comes to most people’s minds when you say the word pizza: a thick, cripsy (if you’re lucky) white crust, garnished with loads of tomato sauce, highly processed meats and or coldcuts, a few vegetables (again, if you’re lucky!) and mounds of cheese.

Not much “healthy” stuff going on there.

Granted, there are healthier alternatives even at your local pizzeria, but I don’t think that they would offer anything that’s even remotely close to this one.

What a shame, I say…  “Cuz pizza or not, this dish was DIVINE!

I guess by now, you guys know just how much I love my pizza, right? And since I’ve decided to avoid grains for a while, well, my all time ultimate favorite pizza crust is pretty much off limits.

I turned to my very good friend Internet to try and find a good grain free pizza crust recipe, but found none that really called my name.

Sure, there is this cauliflower based pizza dough that’s all over the place, but it didn’t really appeal to me.

At least not at this point.

Not saying I’m never gonna try it, but I thought it wouldn’t go too well with what I had in mind for this particular pizza. I mean, pear, figs, blackberries and… cauliflower? Ewwww… I know I can be out there sometimes, but that just didn’t work for me.

I don’t think it would’ve worked for any of you, either!

So I decided to go with a cross between the crust that I’d done for my Grain Free Asparagus Quiche and that of my Rustic Sweet Potato Tarlets.

That worked amazingly well. Even beyond my expectations.

The taste of the buckwheat went PERFECTLY well with the sweetness of the fruits and honey, the tanginess of the cheese and the fresh sharpness of the rosemary. As for the walnuts, they added that extra little crunch and were just plain sublime on there.

This was probably one of the best pizzas I ever had. I just died with every single bite.

Now, I’m not saying that I’m ready to give up on standard pizza crust for good, but I can guarantee that I will be having that exact same pizza again many, many times. In fact, I had it 2 nights in a row. And I never did that with ANY other pizza before.

Well, except for that take-out stuff, way back when, that is… when I’d have the leftovers the next day!

Now, you might be wondering whether this is a main course or dessert pizza… I mean, with all the fruits and honey, it’s gotta be way sweet, no?

Well, in fact, no, it isn’t. I don’t think it would make a very good dessert. Yes, it is somewhat sweet, but it’s also surprisingly savory. So I wouldn’t recommend it.

Appetizers, on the other hand…

Oh, yeah! Now THAT would be splendid!

Of course, I’d bookmarked it so I could eventually share it with you…

The only problem is, now that I am ready to share, I can’t seem to find that bookmark anywhere.

Ugh.

I even remember tweeting it that day when I read it. I tried finding that, but tweets being very ephemeral in nature, they are very hard to track back after a certain (as in VERY short) time.

Well, at least, I memorized the essential parts of that article, at least I think I did.

So here goes.

First and foremost, you need to use LOTS of vanilla beans. Anything less than 8 beans to a cup of vodka and you’re only making “Vanilla Flavored Vodka”. 

Aaaaah, so that’s why I’d never really been super impressed with home made vanilla extract in the past. Vanilla beans being so expensive, I never used much more than 3-4 beans to a cup and a half vodka.

Then one day, I realized that vanilla beans could be purchased online for a MUCH better price. There are plenty of great resources where you can buy the precious scented beans in bulk.

Oh! The joy!

I now buy my vanilla by the pound and, while the initial investment might be a little steep, the price per bean gets considerably lowered, so much so I can now use vanilla in pretty much anything I fancy… from nut butter to smoothies!

Never, in the past, would I have even considered using a $4 vanilla bean in a smoothie. But lower that price tag down to something like ¢50? I say just just throw it right in.

Even half of one could do the job, but I love those little black specks so much… I just can’t get enough!

And have you ever tried shoving your nose into a bag full of fresh vanilla beans?

OH! THE SMELL!!! TOTAL, COMPLETE BLISS, I TELL YOU!

Alright, let’s get back to that awesome article, shall we? Another thing it did mention is that you should never heat  your vodka when you make vanilla extract. Why is that, you ask? Hmpft. I wish I remembered…  But it made perfect sense, I swear!

Hey, don’t give me a hard time, alright? I said I only remembered the essential, didn’t I?

Now, I’d been meaning to make this batch of vanilla absolutely gluten free (I started it during Lent, you see) but unfortunately, I was unable to get my hands on a suitable non-grain vodka. They didn’t carry ANY at my local liquor store.

Also, it is said that the distillation process removes all traces of gluten from alcohol, but there is much debate about whether this is true or not.

So if you really are truly gluten intolerant, or if you’re a real purist, or if you’re simply a tad crazy and determined not to cheat on your Lent challenge like I was and want to make your vanilla extract absolutely, indubitably gluten free, well, all you need to do is find a vodka that’s not made from grains.

Did you know that they actually made vodka not only from potatoes, but also from grapes, soybeans and even beets?

Yep, beets!

I didn’t even known that before I started looking for gluten free vodka. Not too suprisingly, they didn’t carry that either at my local liquor store. … hopefully you’ll have more luck finding it than I did!

Oh, right… one more thing!

No one says you HAVE to use vodka. It would be the most “neutral” choice, but you could very well choose to go with rum or bourbon… Needless to say the resulting flavor would be  extremely different, but very interesting nonetheless, especially for those sweet tasting dishes, you know.

I’ve never tried it personally, but I get the feeling that I will…

Fairly soon!

Start with a whole bunch of fresh vanilla beans and good quality vodka

Slit vanilla beans, stuff them into pretty bottles, top with vodka…

Shake gently, wait patiently, and be greatly rewarded!

YES!!!

Comments are back on! I can finally hear you guys! Oh, it feels so nice to have you back. So, so nice.

I’m truly sorry for all of you who actually took the time to write a comment that never made it through. I really wish that I could get them all back somehow and read them. You guys can’t even begin to imagine just how much I enjoy reading what you have to say.

I only hope that you haven’t cursed me too much when you noticed that your comment never made it to this site.

Oh, and please, please, don’t let that stop you from conversing or sharing your thoughts and impressions with me in the future.

‘Cuz THAT would be a disaster.

Let’s just pray that this never happens again.

Now, on with the eats, shall we? Care to guess what’s for dinner tonight?

Chicken, what else?

I guess I better warn you right away, I’ve been on this big chicken kick lately.

So of course, a few recipes involving chicken are to be expected in the next few days. I promise not to give them to you all at once…

This recipe here hardly qualifies as a chicken recipe, though. It’s more like zucchinis and mushrooms with a few pieces of chicken. I was in the mood for LOTS of zucchinis, that night.

Alright, alright, I fess…

I had LOADS of zucchinis to use up. There. I said it.

Still, I’m real happy I did, because trust me, I wouldn’t even take one out of the ingredients list. It was just perfectly good with all the huge chunks of courgettes, big pieces of mushroom and jumbo cashew nuts.

Talk about amazing texture!

The flavor combination was just superb too. I mean, you have cashews, almond butter, sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds… so of course, a very intense nutty flavor is to be expected. But, it also has just what it takes of a tang zing from the vinegar as well as a serious hint of heat kick from the Sambal Oelek.

Perfect combination if you ask me. And talk about healthy, too! I would honestly not change a thing.

And I will honestly be making this one again…

And again…

And again!

Most of these bugs you don’t see… Some, however, you do get to notice. I really wish you didn’t, but hey, It comes with the territory, they say!

One of the most obvious ones, the one that would be of utmost importance to me, comes with the fact that the comment form isn’t functionning at all.

I was really hoping that the situation would be really temporary and that no one would even get to notice, but it has been well over 4 days now, and still, no sign of improvement…

FOUR DAYS WITHOUT HEARING FROM ANY OF YOU GUYS!

I feel completely, totally disconnected. Deserted. Lonely. Sad, even.  I just hate that feeling of helplnessness, of not being able to communicate, to connect with you guys. I just miss you all tremendously.

It’s like blogging has suddenly lost all its meaning. This place is just sooooooo empty without you all.

I think I don’t handle being kept away from those I care about all that well…

I can’t wait until you all get your voice back. I think I will be performing a little dance on that day!

Until then, I can’t let you hand dry, now, can I? Of course not!

So let me give you a quick little recipe here, one that speaks of the hot summer days to come, one that features one of my ultimate favorite summer foods: watermelon! I eat TONS of that in the summer. That, and cantaloupe! You can be certain that you will always find one or the other, if not both, when you open my fridge during the warm season.

This salad really comes together in no time, is SUPER refreshing, and doesn’t even really require a recipe. It’s just extremely forgiving! Add more of this, a little less of that… it doesn’t really care, it will let you eat it just the same, and I’m sure that it will taste just as good, too!

Seriously, I think that I will be having this salad VERY often this summer. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, you name it. It’s just PERFECT!

Easy, light, refreshing, satisfying.

Can you think of a better summer dish?

Yeah… I know… you can’t even answer that one!

God I hate that. I can’t wait until you all get your voice back!

When that happens, I hope you all talk to me at the same time!

Make me dizzy with your words!

Or try to.

But lately, I’ve been relying more on fish, seafood, nuts, dairy and whey for my protein intake.

I think I need to reinstate chicken.

Plus, I’m starting to think that I may want to do lean beef once in a while, too. Like once or twice a month. Not quite sure as to why, but I’ve been having major cravings for the stuff lately, and I’m right about to give in.

The thing is, though, you see, I have moral issues with eating meat. It’s like I feel I have to eat some, because I know, or think, that my body needs the protein, but I hate doing it because one, animals have to die in order for me to do that, and two, said animals are, more often than not, treated poorly and fed all sorts of nasties…

So what I really need to do is find a good farm in my area where I can buy good quality meat on a regular basis. I shall investigate that over the summer.

But in the meantime, I’ll stick to chicken once or twice a week and lean beef once or twice a month.

Let me tell you though, if chicken is always going to be as good as it was in this last dish, I might be tempted to have it more often than that!

Not only was this dish super tasty AND super healthy, it also came together in no time at all. Makes it really ideal when cooking for one… but really, would be just as easy to make for the entire family.

Now, I have to admit that this is the kind of dish that I “normally” would have served with a side of rice, so it felt kind of weird having it on its own, but to be honest, I can’t say I missed the rice at all.

Looks like I’m really getting used to this “easing up on grains” thing… It’s turning out to be much easier than I thought it was gonna be.

However, if you want to serve this with rice, just go ahead and do that. It will be plain glorious! I would opt for brown basmati, if it was me. Be warned though… if you choose to do the rice, you will have more than enough chicken for two people…

Especially it was a very generous serving to start with.

So of course, it will come as no surprise to you if I say that, when I saw this recipe for Spiced Buckwheat Pudding on Nora’s Natural Noshing, it was like, I had to try it. HAD TO!

Now, if you’re on the same page with me, then you’re already sold. Every thing I say beyond this point is completely unnecessary. I’ve already lost won you. You’re not even reading anymore: you’re checking out the recipe, drooling all over your keyboard. Perhaps you’ve even headed for the kitchen and have all the ingredients, pans and measuring cups all layed out across the counter.

For those of you who are still reading, I don’t think that it will take much to convince you that you MUST try this.

This is one seriously creamy, smooth, chewy, sweet, spicy and tasty warm breakfast cereal. And yes, it IS good enough to  be worthy of the name pudding. Hey, it would even make a glorious dessert, although served in much humbler quantities.

One tiny little word of warning, though. Don’t do like I did, unless you really, seriously dig the taste of Kasha.

For you see, this is actually my second time making this recipe…

The first time I made it, I was almost out of raw buckwheat groats (horror, I know!) and didn’t have enough to cover the entire quantity, so I added a little bit of kasha to make up for the difference. Well, I went about half and half, to be honest.

While it wasn’t so bad, the taste of Kasha was a teeny weeny bit way too intense for my liking. The second time around, I didn’t use any at all and honestly? I sort of missed it…

So the next time I make this delicious breakfast pudding (which will be much sooner than later, trust me!) I will add maybe just a teaspoon or two of kasha, just to give it a little hint of that toasty kick, you know.

And I might start playing around with the fruit and nut combinations also. I’m thinking banana walnut, apricot hazelnut, apple pecan…  spicy pumkin?

Droooooooool!

Oh, this is the beginning of a beautiful, meaningful and long-lasting love story. I can feel it!

As for that craving for a nice, warm bowl of creamy oatmeal? Gone!

Who needs oatmeal when I can have buckwheat?

It’s not that I don’t like the seed on its own, far from there!

In fact, I think that I prefer it, in its plain state, to rice, couscous or bulghur.

I find it has this lightness, this crunchiness and nutiness to it. It almost feels like it pops in your mouth when you eat it.

Oh, and it’s sooooo flavorful, too! I could eat it like that forever and wouldn’t get tired of it.

Maybe the fact that I like it so much in its “bare” state is precisely the reason why I feel the need to cook with it so much. It makes for a much interesting base ingredient.

Funny thing, though, is I really don’t care for quinoa flour. I haven’t been impressed with it so far. I prefer to use the whole seed, cooked and cooled.

When I recently went on a kale craze, I got a major craving for quinoa patties crumbled over shredded kale, with a little bit of balsamic vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil drizzled on top.

The thing is, though, I also wanted shrimp… big time.

So what was I to do, I ask you?

Of course, I decided to join the two together and make a quinoa pattie that had shrimp in it.

Whoa, what a great idea that was!

These patties just literally explode with flavor. They are soooo insanely good, I swear, you’ll want to eat them for days on straight!

At least I did.

You see, this recipe makes 8 patties, and it was only me eating them. But then my daughter came home, tasted them and liked ‘em so much, I had to make a second batch right then and there, because there was not enough for the 2 of us…

That time, I decided to try them over watercress, instead of kale. Well… decided… Let’s say I was forced.

You see, I ran out of kale way before I ran out of patties!!!

For the record, I much preferred them over kale, but watercress also had its charm.

However, you don’t have to serve them over greens, you know. You could very well turn these patties into burgers.

I just know that they would be absolutely glorious.