Eat: Roasted Vegetable Salad

This salad is absolutely delicious. The dish is warm, colorful, and filling. A perfect salad for a cold summers days. The weather in Calgary has been depressing and Vancouveresque lately; complete with endless rain. The warm roasted root vegetables are sweet and mix nice with the tang of the mustard dressing. Roasting and prepping the veggies takes a bit of time, but the salad will export you to a wonderful summer utopia void of bad weather blues. 

Roasted Vegetable Salad with Dijon Dressing

Ingredients:

Roasted Vegetables

1 large yam peeled and diced

2 large parsnips, peeled and chopped

1 fennel bulb quartered and sliced thinly

1 red onion sliced, and chopped

2 zucchini quartered and sliced

1 lb mushrooms halved

1 eggplant, cubed

3 beets peeled and quartered

1 bulb garlic (less two cloves)

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tsp salt 

1 tsp black pepper

1 tbsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

dressing:

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

2 cloves garlic minced

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1/3 cup olive oil

1 cup fresh basil, julienned

4 cups baby spinach

Preparation:

preheat the oven to 375

prep all vegetables, and divide into 3 different mixing bowls. 

(beets in one, yams, fennel and parsnips, and all other veggies).

Whisk together the olive oil, salt, pepper, cumin, and paprika. Pour the oil evenly between the 3 bowls. And cover vegetables evenly. 

Transfer the veggies to baking trays. One for the beets, yams, parsnips and fennel (as they take longer to cook), and one for the remaining veggies. 

Roast for 20 minutes,  flip the roast yams/beets and return to the oven for an additional 20 minutes. 

Take out the remaining veggies and let cool.

In a small bowl combine the salad dressing, and whisk until smooth. 

In a large salad bowl toss the cooled roast veggies with the spinach and dressing. 

-enjoy!

Eat: Breakfast Cinnamon Quinoa

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. To some; chowing down first thing in the morning, when trying to reach or maintain a healthy weight, may seem counter intuitive. Logically it can reasoned that by skipping breakfast you are able to cut calories. In a mathematical equation with controlled variable the reasoning make sense, however our bodies mechanics are so complex that any and logic is lost emotion. 

We actually need calories first thing in the morning to rev up our metabolism.  When we skip a meal, our bodies go into starvation mode. When I skip a meal my body temperature cools and I get irritable.  Not eating breakfast can slow down the metabolism by as much as 40%. Mornings are a rush, and I know that finding time to gulp down anything more than coffee can seem impossible. Before bed on Sunday night, (or any day of the week) I'll put my slow cooker on and wake up to a delicious protein rich breakfast. 

Creamy Cinnamon Breakfast Quinoa

Ingredients:

1 cup organic vanilla soy milk

1 cup water


1 cup organic quinoa, (rinsed)

1 can pureed farmers market butternut squash 


2 cups fresh or frozen blackberries,


1 tsp ground cinnamon


½ tsp ground ginger

1/3 cup chopped pecans

1 tbsp orange zest


4 tsp organic agave nectar

Salt to taste

Preparation:

Lightly oil the crock pot, and combine all ingredients. Stir well. Set the Slow cooker to low, and cook overnight for 8 hours. 

Enjoy warm, with a big mug of coffee or tea!