Food

This savoury tart is sure to impress guests. If you can’t find almond flour in stores, make your own by grinding skinless blanched almonds into a meal.

This is very different than Chinese takeout sweet and sour chicken. Tofu replaces deep-fried chicken and the sauce tastes much lighter and fresher than the mystery neon goop. The coating gives the tofu wonderful texture, but choose organic to avoid genetically modified soy. If desired, cubed poultry can replace the tofu.

There are a few bonuses to making your own wonton soup. First of all, you can assure healthy ingredients go into the dumplings. Plus, it’s surprisingly easy and you don’t have to settle for an overly salty, flavourless broth. Here, star anise provides unexpected sparkle while oyster mushrooms add umami depth. If you like heat, you can spike the broth with chili garlic sauce. Look for organic shrimp, which is a more sustainable choice than imported crustaceans. The wonton parcels freeze really well if you want to prepare them in advance.

Is there any dish out there that screams “food court Chinese” more than orange chicken? Battered, fried, and tossed with mysterious sauce, too often it’s a nutritional train wreck. Suffice to say, you’ll enjoy this revamped iconic dish with its bright orange flavour and cashew buttery crunch. If desired, you can replace the chicken with turkey or tofu.

Fried rice is the epitome of Chinese fast food. Too bad it’s rarely more than prodigious amounts of greasy white rice flecked with a meagre amount of vegetables. This rendition ups the health ante with a generous amount of vegetables and brown rice. The key to great fried rice is to use cold rice, preferably a day or two old.

This overhaul of the rather infamous “Chinese” dish, replaces the usual fried egg noodles with more nutritious whole grain, nutty-tasting soba noodles. You can add almost any vegetable you like—spinach, bean sprouts, Chinese kale, to name a few. Make the dish vegetarian by swapping chicken with tofu. The key to this recipe and others is getting the prep work done before you start stir-frying because once it starts, it moves rapidly.

4 cups (1 L) mixed greens
1/2 cup (125 mL) golden raisins
1/2 cup (125 mL) dried blueberries
1/4 cup (60 mL) pumpkin seeds
1/2 lb (225 g) cooked purple potatoes
1/2 cup (125 mL) plain yogourt
2 Tbsp (30 mL) balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp (15 mL) extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, roasted and chopped
Sea salt to taste

4 medium russet potatoes
2 1/2 Tbsp (37 mL) organic ketchup
4 tsp (20 mL) extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp (10 mL) Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp (10 mL) apple-cider vinegar
3/4 tsp (4 mL) paprika

3 cups (750 mL) mashed potatoes
2 cups (500 mL) cooked dino kale, chopped
1 large beaten egg
4 oz (125 g) extra-sharp cheddar cheese, grated
Fresh grated nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste

Quinoa Burgers

Salmon, walnuts, and extra-virgin olive oil combine to make a salad rich in omega-3s.

Try this delicious disease-fighting indulgence.

This is the new breakfast of champions. Packed with protein and fibre, this dish tastes like hot cereal meets scrambled eggs at the diner!

This is an easy and satisfying way to eat an avocado. It also doubles as a quick and colourful hors d’oeuvre.

Brazilians have a way with avocados. Avocado shakes and smoothies are a regular part of their diet and can be made sweet or savoury. It’s a healthy and flavourful way to put a bounce in your step first thing in the morning!

This West Coast take on green goddess dressing dished up with heart-healthy salmon is a double heart-smart dinner.

This is like a grilled cheese sandwich, but for breakfast. Made with whole grain bread instead of white bread and filled with fruit instead of sugary jam, it is a low glycemic index food, meaning it will help keep your child full until lunchtime. 

Oatmeal is a low glycemic index food (it’s a good source of soluble fibre) that combats heart disease by lowering bad cholesterol (LDL) levels. This simple recipe for oatmeal is sweetened naturally by dates and frozen fruit, which also helps cool the oatmeal to a temperature that’s just right. Double, triple, or quadruple the recipe to serve the whole family.

Bread pudding is an English dish typically made with generous amounts of sugar. This apple pie-inspired version is lightly sweet and fruity, perfect for breakfast, and a practical way to use up bread that’s a bit stale. Note that you’ll need to make the pudding mix the night before.

These high-protein wraps have a short preparation time, but to make them even more quickly, replace the sautéed onion, carrots, celery, and garlic with a frozen roasted vegetable mix.

Many nonorganic spices are irradiated to kill micro-organisms. If you prefer to buy nonirradiated spices, you may find Montreal spice mix in your local health food store—or you can simply make it yourself using organic spices. Sprinkle it on pretty much any dish for an added boost of flavour.

Sustainable and inexpensive sardines pack a serious nutritional wallop, which includes a boatload of omega fats and vitamin D. Raisins add desirable sweetness that complements the licorice notes of fennel.

This Asian-inspired sandwich is equally good in wraps. Use organic tofu to avoid genetically modified soy.

This no-knead stecca or “stick” sandwich bread is worth the bit of planning required. It’s perfect for our sardine or salmon sandwiches.