Just when I had used up my rhubarb from my own garden, my auntie kindly sent a bundle of rhubarb to me from her garden! I was excited to bake with rhubarb again- especially so I could send a treat back to her! I settled on a rhubarb upside down cake because I love the idea of the sweet caramelization that goes on, and how pretty it looks when you flip the cake out of the pan!

I adapted this recipe from Fragrant Vanilla Cake. I would have used coconut sugar instead of organic unrefined sugar, but unfortunately I’m all out! If you are vegan, of course you could use agave syrup or even brown rice syrup instead of honey.

I still have a bit of rhubarb left as the stalks from my auntie are much thicker than my homegrown ones! I should be able to make one more rhubarb recipe…and I think I have just the one! Stay tuned if you like sipping pretty summer lemonades or cocktails

Is everyone ready for summer yet? I sure am! And the weather has finally started to agree, here in Raincouver…

I have lots planned for the coming few months, including making a special 21st birthday cake for my boyfriend, trips to Whistler, and the Gulf Islands. I can’t wait to soak up some sun, ride my bike, and spend lots of time with friends.

I think this recipe is perfect for the casual, laid-back social gatherings that summer brings. This is a beautiful Asian noodle salad, and it makes an absolute TON!  It’s an easy, no-stress recipe, just what you need when cooking for a lot of people, or bringing a dish to a neighbour’s BBQ. Just throw whatever veggies you have on hand into the mix! The dressing is amazing, too. Your house will smell fabulous as you chop up ginger, garlic, and cilantro. This salad is so fresh, colourful and summery, you won’t be able to resist it!

On another note…I have to say how proud I am of Rhys for finishing his first marathon!! I waited at the 30 km mark for him to run by, and surprised him with this sign. I may have been overly excited…

The sign was a joke (kind of!), as he had done pretty much no training for this 42 km race. I’m happy to say that he didn’t die, and he did a great job! His first words when he came across the finish line were “I will never do that again”. Hey…at least it’s crossed off the bucket list, right!?

Every year I have beautiful rhubarb growing in my garden that I get to cook and bake with. The problem with rhubarb though, is that it’s so tart! You really have to cook it down to a soft and sweet flavour. This requires sugar- a lot of sugar. If you look into any rhubarb recipes whether it be for jam, pie, crumble, or cake, you will find that the amount of white sugar used is pretty gross. So, I’ve accepted that rhubarb needs a lot of sweetener, but this year I wanted to try to make a rhubarb recipe using whole foods. I mean no white flour, no white sugar, no brown sugar, and no, not even butter. I’ve done this by using spelt flour, along with oats and raw honey to make a crumble topping. The rhubarb layer is sweetened with raw honey and orange juice. Dotted with coconut oil to provide a necessary and healthy fat, I think this rhubarb dessert turned out better than the junk versions!! I served this with a vanilla-orange coconut cream, but feel free to use fresh whipped cream, cashew cream, or frozen yogurt.

I submitted this recipe as part of Whole Foods Wednesdays at Beyond the Peel!

It seems that when it comes to mushrooms you either love ‘em or hate ‘em. I definitely love them, but I feel like portobello mushrooms are in a completely different league. Can even a mushroom hater like them? I feel like these easy portobello burgers could make a few converts. These are ideal for a summer BBQ or even a quick weeknight dinner. I have made these several times in recent months, changing up the toppings each time. Please head over to One Green Planet for the recipe, and enjoy!

I love a good latte or tea latte, but it can be hard to find a place that makes them with alternatives to milk. And I am really not a fan of soy-milk….health-wise, I just think it’s….not a good idea. My regular milk alternative is almond milk, and I love it with everything! It’s so easy to make at home, and this recipe can be made with either homemade or storebought almond milk. If you aren’t a fan of almond milk, give it a try with your favourite nut milk or coconut milk and let me know how it goes!

I’ve sweetened this latte with raw unpasteurized honey that I bought locally. I strongly encourage everyone to check out local farms for purchasing honey. You will find soo many different kinds and flavours that are usually unpasteurized and raw- YES!! For this particular latte, I used a local pumpkin honey. That just means that the bees were getting their nectar from pumpkin blossoms. It has such a nice flavour to it, perfect for this latte. I also have a fabulous dandelion honey, melon honey (it tastes just like melon!), and a beautiful creamed honey.

If you’re vegan, try replacing the honey with coconut syrup or coconut sugar.

I made my latte foamy by using a frother from smartcafe. No need for a fancy shmancy machine. If you don’t have a frother just whisk the milk as you heat it.

Now relax and enjoy your Almond Milk Chai Latte! If lattes aren’t for you….try these chai tea cupcakes! 

Oh, um….if your bowl mug isn’t as big as mine…this could serve two people.

I was inspired to make these vegan corn fritters with vegan sweet chili sauce after trying corn fritters for the first time at my boyfriend’s house. His family is from New Zealand, and I think corn fritters might be a bit popular there. After some research googling, there seems to be quite a few recipes for them! His mom made super delicious sweet corn fritters and served them with sweet chili sauce- they were so good!! I decided to make a veganized version so that my readers at One Green Planet could enjoy corn fritters, too! These are a little crisper and a bit different to the ones I first tried, but delicious nonetheless. And if you’re wondering why I bothered to homemake sweet chili sauce, it’s because most bottled versions contain fish sauce, which isn’t vegan. I have to say that I loved the homemade sweet chili- you can adjust the spice to suit your palette and there are no icky ingredients that you can’t pronounce!

*There seems to be some confusion as to what peaches & cream corn is. It’s simply a type of corn- the kernels are two different colours, resembling peaches & cream. Use any kind of frozen corn you want, just let it thaw and drain it.

Head over to One Green Planet to check out the recipe!

I have been loving raw food desserts lately from coconut cream pie to coconut chocolate pudding and  pineapple dips. I decided it was time to make some raw food brownies. After a bit of searching, I realized that it seemed the most popular raw brownie on the web was from My New Roots. I couldn’t miss out on this one but wanted to add a little something else….When my granny made brownies she always iced them and topped them with chopped walnuts, so I knew I wanted to put a little icing on these bad boys. How convenient that they happen to be made mostly from walnuts, too! I wonder if my granny would enjoy this healthy version of a frosted brownie.

In other news, I just completed the Vancouver Sun Run this weekend! I’m feeling so proud of myself, as I had never run 10km before and this really pushed me to pretty much double the length of my regular runs. If you don’t know what the Sun Run is, it’s basically a 10km run that takes place each year in Vancouver. It’s the largest 10k in Canada and this year had about 48,000 people run it! It started to get tough for me around 8k, but my boyfriend stuck with me and I only ended up walking for less than a minute! Here’s a picture of us at the start line with our friends:

It seems that the most popular raw brownie recipe ever is from Sarah over at My New Roots. I used her raw brownie recipe and combined it with Lucuma Icing from Meghan Telpner. The combination was great. The icing has a sort of caramel-like flavour, which is amazing because all of the ingredients are so good for the body!

My last post was about a great restaurant I went to called Nuba. You can read about that here. I mentioned the delicious cauliflower called “Najib’s Special” that was served with “La Feast” that I ordered. I knew once I tried it that I had to recreate it at home, and I must say that my version is tasty and much healthier, as it is roasted in just a bit of oil, instead of deep-fried. The lemon flavour is strong, but that’s exactly how it was at Nuba- yum!

Once again, go to Nuba and try Najib’s Special out for yourself- this is just my take on it!

Also…if you are wondering why my cauliflower looks green it’s because I used a “broccoflower”, a green cauliflower!

This time, we got there and the wait was an hour and a half…..oh my. We asked for a seat at the bar and the wait was 25 minutes- not so bad! We put our names down and after 45 minutes with no call we headed back to see what was up. Finally, after about an hour total, we had two seats at the bar. PHEW! Needless to say, I will not be going back without a reservation! Thank God the food was worth it! Our rumbling stomachs would not have been too happy otherwise!!

I apologize for the quality of the photos in advance, but part of the Nuba experience is the ambiance. I thoroughly enjoyed the dim lighting and candles, but they are not the best for photography

We each had a glass of fabulous sangria. There is a red sangria and a white sangria listed on the menu but I happen to love pink sangria, so when the bartender suggested a pink sangria, I was more than pleased! It was a delicious combination of grapefruit, orange, and rosé- tasty!

We selected “la feast” for our meal….and man, was it ever a feast! We were stuffed afterwards. It’s basically a vegetarian sampler including hummus, taboulleh, baba ghanooj, homemade pickle, fattoush salad, najib’s special (deep-fried cauliflower), vegan stew, falafel, mjadra, macedonian feta, avocado, and marinated olives.

I highly suggest getting la feast if you go to Nuba. The menu is quite large, and this way you get to try a whole variety of dishes. There is also la grand feast, which includes meat.

We were first served the hummus, taboulleh, baba ghanooj , homemade pickle, and pita bread. The portion was huuuuge, and our pita bread was refilled, too! This was a very filling start to the meal….

After that we received the rest of la feast.

Pictured below is the falafel and Najib’s special- the deep-fried cauliflower. The falafel was fabulous, but I could not get enough of the cauliflower!! It was sooo zesty with lemony flavour and crispy on the outside yet soft on the outside. I made a mental note to recreate a version of this home…stay tuned!

The fattoush salad was very good and the feta was to.die.for. Literally the best feta cheese I have ever tasted in my life. It was so soft and creamy. Amazing.

Below is the vegan eggplant stew which was out of this world, as well as the mjadra with avocado.

The platter came with tzatziki, a tahini sauce, and a jalapeno sauce.

Nuba restaurant is located at 207 West Hastings Street.

*I’ll make the video wide screen next time… #technicaldifficulties

**I’ve also posted step by step directions below

***I need a manicure

1. Get a young coconut. You can find these at health food stores, places like Whole Foods, or at Asian food stores. Also, get a sharp knife.

2. Turn your coconut on it’s side

3. Shave the husk down until you see and feel the brown inner part.

4. It should look like this. Now you are ready to find the 3 lines the coconut has.

5. After you have found the 3 divisions, locate the largest area. Depending on the coconut, this can be very easy…or slightly more difficult- just follow your heart . Luckily I picked an easy one!

6. Whack the heel of your knife into the largest area a few times. You should be cracking the shell.

7. Once you have made a nice little opening on the largest area, use your knife to pry up the ‘lid’ of the coconut.

Coconut water may splash….

Voila! There is your lovely opened coconut! Now pour the water into a glass for drinking, or a container for freezing.

Scoop out the meat with a spoon.

If you don’t want to use it right away, coconut meat freezes wonderfully.