Get ready to have your mind (and taste buds) blown by these seriously nutrient-dense and delightfully delicious classic comfort food of eastern European origin. I know I know, the word “borscht” doesn’t usually conjure feelings culinary excitement, but if you only knew how good it was for you, and how tasty it can be, you would be all up in the borscht-buzz! Let me enlighten you…
Read moreWarming Turkey Chili
The weather’s getting colder and you may start to see fewer and fewer salads in my Instagram stories, and more and more soups, stews, curries, tagines, and…you guessed it…chili! Yep, I’m all about the warming one-pot wonders at this time of year and chili is on heavy rotation in the Whole Happy kitchen…
Read moreSimple Easy Coq au Vin
Boeuf bourguignon, ratatouille, coq au vin…these traditional French foods may seem intimidating to the home cook thinking they can only sample the warming flavours in Parisian bistros, but the truth is they’re simply just big ol’ slow-cooked one-pot-wonder stews…Seriously you guys, it doesn’t get easier…and tastier…than the above, and today we’re exploring one of my faves, coq au vin…
Read moreBalsamic Fig Braised Lamb Shank
I love lamb. It’s flavourful, versatile, and many people find it easier to access pasture-raised lamb than some of the other non-wild red meats. One of the things I love most about lamb though, is its incredible nutrient density. Containing arguably more omega-3 fatty acids than grass-fed beef, lamb is a non-inflammatory high protein powerhouse. Iron, B12, zinc, niacin, riboflavin, B6, phosphorus, selenium, potassium, thiamin, magnesium…the list is long and extraordinarily beneficial for a variety of wellness considerations including muscle growth and maintenance, cognitive function, mood balance, and immune strength…
Read moreSuper Caesar Salad
Crisp, creamy, rich and decadent, there’s no question Caesar is the glorious emperor of salads. And there’s no wonder it’s one of the most popular dressings!From a nutritional perspective, there’s nothing really inherently wrong with a traditional Caesar dressing as long as you’re using high quality components...
Read moreCreamy Roasted Beet Dip
Beets are one of the most incredible vegetables. They contain a number of important substances, including betaine, fibre, iron, betacyanin, folate, and pectin, all of which aid in detoxification and digestion. For example, pectin helps clean the toxins that have been removed from the liver, allowing them to be flushed out of the system instead of reabsorbed by the body, and betaine is the substance that encourages the liver cells to get rid of toxins...
Read moreRoot Veggie Latkes with Honey Spiced Sautéed Apples and Greek Yogurt
You guys have probably figured out by now that I love me some fats. Fats are an integral part of our diet – they are a slow burning and long lasting energy source, help with inflammation control and management, improve cognitive function, contribute to heart health, and are integral to hormone balance. In fact, every single cell in our body is made up of something called a phospholipid bilayer (lipids being fats), and therefore are a major component to literally the structure of our entire body and existence...
Read moreTurkey Meatballs with Apple, Cranberries, and Walnuts
I've always wondered why we reserve the killer combo of cranberry and turkey for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Aside from the occasional turkey sandwich, most people are limited in their exposure to this nutritious and delicious bird. Famously known for its abundance of tryptophan - an amino acid that has been time and time again linked to improved cognitive function, muscle and tissue growth an repair, enhanced sleeps, and of course it's positive effects on mood balance (it's basically nature's anti-anxiety "drug") - turkey is packed with protein and is incredibly satiating. Plus it's rather easy to find in free-range form...
Read moreSpiced Spatchcocked Chicken with Apricots, Prunes, and Olives
As you may recall in my post about roasting chickens, I’m a big fan of cooking up the whole bird instead constantly buying only the popular cuts. For more on why this is, read the full thing here. But if you’re thinking to yourself, “I’m hungry now” and simply can’t wait an hour and a half for your clucker to cook through, this might be a solid option for you...
Read moreMushroom, Baby Kale, and Chicken Sausage Pasta
There’s something almost sacred about certain types of mushrooms. I remember when I was at cooking school in Paris, discovering the thrills of experimenting with freshly foraged chanterelles for the first time, and feeling like I could never go back to a generic white mushroom ever again. And with all the incredible varieties of edible fungi, I luckily don’t have to (unless I so choose). Portobello, shitake, maitake, enoki, button…there really are endless directions you can go in, and endless flavours, textures, and even specific nutritional properties to play around with...
Read more