Gillian Young

Tomorrow morning I leave for my next adventure in another part of France.  I’ll be back in two weeks with stories to share.  Until then, be kind to yourself, breathe deeply, laugh loudly, live freely and love as much as your heart will allow you to.

“the free soul is rare, but you know it when you see it – basically because you feel good, very good, when you are near or with them.” 
― Charles Bukowski, Tales of Ordinary Madness

Happiness does not discriminate.
Sometimes it starts with your tangled hair
Crawling all over your pillow
Lit up by the crack of sunlight
That spills through your window.
Sometimes it joins you at your morning coffee
And stays with you when you step outside.
Sometimes it’s in bittersweet beginnings,
The moment the plane takes off
And trembles you right to your core.
Sometimes it’s an almost stranger,
Who reminds you everything is fine,
A bottle of wine made to last the whole night.
And sometimes it’s in letting go
Not because you don’t care
But you cared too much and it still wasn’t working.
You could have wasted your precious youth
Thinking one person, place or thing would finish the equation,
And missed out on all of the in between.
You can’t keep numbing the pain,
You can’t keep getting drunk on the idea of love
And other ideas that leave you broken and hungover.
You have to get outside again
To walk the streets when everyone else is sleeping
And realize that you already have the whole world
To feed you, to love you, to touch you,
To put its hand on your forehead,
To go to bed with you at night.

I am back in France after another whirlwind weekend in Berlin.

I arrived Friday night and my brother and I got right into it by hitting up the Champagne bar at Galleries Lafayette to wet out appetites.  This started a night that seemed to stretch out five different nights, leading us to a restaurant under a bridge with the best miso cod I’ve ever had, a club in an alleyway, a bar hidden away behind a building, a cocktail and live jazz stop at Pauly Saal, and late night plates of currywurst smothered in ketchup and mayo.

Oh how we feasted.  It was a great weekend for eating and drinking.  I also spent hours walking in the rain with one of my best friends, got interviewed for German fashion TV at a Sunday clothing market, and had a great time getting lost in the streets of one of my favourite cities.

I recently stumbled across this fantastic guide for 12 hours in Berlin with Herbert Hoffman, the creative director of the Voo Store, and loved the perfect day he’d planned.  So let’s pretend you spent Saturday with Herbert in Berlin and now it’s time to spend Sunday with me.

10AM

THE BARN

Let’s start our day at Barn Roastery.  They respect good coffee here and I get a little kick out of the fact that there are no children, laptops, or sugar for your coffee allowed.  But it’s surprisingly unpretentious and the flat whites are perfect.  They are smooth and creamy and require nothing more than your full attention as you sit at the window and occasionally look up to watch passersby.

Schönhauser Allee 8 / Mo-Fr 8.30–18, Sa-Su 10–18

11AM

ANTIPODES BRUNCH

Because we’re spending 12 hours together in Berlin, we should drink as much good coffee as possible.  So let’s skip over to the happiest little New Zealander owned coffee shop Antipodes.  Saturdays are great for brunch, so let’s get some eggs benny, bacon and eggs, or home made meat pies and enjoy them outside with a couple more flat whites.

Fehrbelliner Straße 5 / Wed-Fri 8-17:00, Sat-Sun 9-17:00

12.45PM

ARKONAPLATZ FLEA MARKET

Once we are well fuelled we can make our way up to the Arkonoplatz flea market.  We’ll rifle through old records, retro shades, handbags, and various other knick knacks at reasonable prices and find something special to take home.

Arkonaplatz / Sun, 10:00-16:00

2PM

MAUERPARK

Let’s take our new treasures and hop over to Mauerpark to lie on the grassy hills, listen to live music, and if we’re up for it, venture through another flea market.  It is after all, where I bought my favourite hat.

Gleimstraße 55 / Fleamarket Summer: Sun, 8:00-18:00, Winter: Sun, 8:00-sunset

4PM

BONANZA COFFEE HEROES

If we can handle one more coffee we better go to Bonanza Coffee Heroes.  At Bonanza the coffee is produced with a Synesso Cyncra—a machine that is extremely thermally sensitive— and is watched at all times with a measuring system on an iMac.  Apparently there are only three of these insane machines in all of Europe.

If we’ve had enough coffee let’s just grab a glass of Riesling at one of the other cute cafes along this street and people watch.

Oderberger Straße 35 / Mon – Tues 8:30 am – 7:00 pm, Sat – Sun 10:00 am – 7:00 pm

6PM

GIN AND TONIC BAR

We’ll walk around until we are tired and thirsty and for a pre-dinner G&T at the adorable Gin and Tonic bar.

Friedrichstraße 113 / Mon – Sun: 8:00 pm – 3:00 am

8PM

GRILL ROYAL

A short walk away is Grill Royal.  It’s a bit of a splurge but it’s Sunday, we’re tired and hungry, and we deserve some proper steaks.  We might have to wait for a table, but we can always go and grab another gin and tonic and come back.  We’ll order two big steaks, French fries, sweet potato fries and a variety of dips and sauces.  Extra garlic aioli for me please.

Friedrichstraße 105b / The restaurant is open daily from 6pm.

AFTER MIDNIGHT

We can crawl into bed with happy bellies, or maybe we’ll hit a few more bars, try to get into Berghain or hit up some late night Currywurst.  Anything is possible in Berlin.

I created a google map of all of these spots here.

I have never liked being stuck in the middle.

I am a sucker for the all or nothing.  The head over heels in love or rock bottom loneliness.  The euphoric happiness or heart breaking sadness.

I tend to apply this to most things in my life.  When I commit to something I am all or nothing.  If I start a job I finish it.  If someone doesn’t make me feel alive I don’t waste my time with them.

In some ways this has served me really well.  It’s helped me to accomplish a lot, to see things through, to keep a small number of really good friends, and to experience true love with another person.

But I need to adjust to the in between.  I think sometimes I am so eager for what is next that I waste what is right now.  Right now I am hungry for happiness, love, and above all to feel like myself.  I can’t wait to feel good in my own skin again.  For the feel good glow to come back into my face.  For my body to feel strong and alive.  To want to get out of bed.

I live for the times in life when I can feel myself thriving.  I’m not there right now.  I still feel and look tired.  The spark in my eyes has been replaced with stress and sadness and I’m learning to accept that it won’t be forever.  I am in limbo and that’s fine.

I’m not going to waste right now.  Right now is when I grow.  When I become comfortable with being uncomfortable.  When I take chances.  When I let my skin grow a little thicker.  When I accept that things won’t always be good and that that is fine too.

So I’m learning to be loving.  To let go.  To have fun.  To drag our friends out after midnight with jars full of wine to listen to jazz music off of my phone by the statue of the Virgin Mary.  Because life is short.  The stars out here shine brightly.  Love and good nights with friends make all the crap in the world worth it.

How do you get comfortable in this in between space?  You ease into it.  You let it be exciting.  You live the quiet moments and breathe them in just as deeply as the ones you’re really craving.  Right here, right now, awkwardly in the middle, is where you need to be.

Marion is a beautiful young French woman that lives just outside our village.

I have known her through mutual friends for many years but it wasn’t until I discovered her blog that I realized how many interests we share.  Marion is a self-proclaimed tea, music, art, style, photo, knitting and travel lover.

Her blog is a creative collection of all these things.  I love her photos, videos and writing, as well as her food blog Les Recettes de Marion.  Any woman who has mastered making perfect frites at home has a special place in my heart.

Marion is going to share a recipe on the blog soon, but first we thought it would be fun to do a little Q&A so that you can get to know her…

Q: What inspired you to start your wonderful blog?
A: I started it actually more as a sort of journal where i could put all the things i like, and that touched me, thinking that maybe some people would be touched by the same things.
I would like to share more !

Q: You have started putting together some beautiful short films. Can we expect more?
A: I love making videos ! hopefully i’ll do some more this summer !

Q: You are a world traveller! What is one of your best travel memories?
A: MMMmm hard to say … Probably the feeling i had when i walked through a bridge to reach the city of Rishikesh, India. The bridge was over the Ganges River, it was something like midnight, full moon and the noise of this powerful river was very loud and beautiful. I realized where i was and felt very much in the present moment. Which is weirdly rare finally.

Q: You also have a great food blog. If you could throw a dinner party with a limitless budget, what would you make?
A: I’ll start probably with some guacamole and hummus which, shame on me, are not even on Les Recettes de Marion, then i would make veg lasagna and end up with a lemon meringue pie

Q: What is your favourite thing to bake?
A: The lemon meringue pie, because i made it so many times, i never fail !

Q: Do you make any traditional dishes from the Tarn?
A: No, unfortunately.

Q: You are a tea lover. What is your every day tea? Do you have any tea brewing secrets?
A: I always start my day with a green tea, I like Kusmi tea brand but my favorite is definitely Mariage Frere. Pure tea, without adding any milk or sugar is the rule !

Q: What is the best thing you ate on your recent visit to San Francisco?
A: without any hesitations the ginger cake with pumpkin ice cream, caramel sauce and cream from Chow (215 Church St San Francisco, CA 94114) !

Q: What do you think are the biggest differences between the North American diet and the French diet?
A: Less fat in France in general and more elaborate (sorry dudes) except for the sandwiches, this guys are the best sandwiches makers ever.

Q: You are always beautifully dressed. What French fashion secrets can you share with our readers?
A: Observing, what looks good together, what doesn’t, forms, colors, styles. I think its a lot about observing.

Q: What blogs are you loving right now?
A: I follow Make my lemonade that i like because Lisa is sharing a lot, she gives. This blog is full of love! I also like Eleonore Bridge, A Beautiful Mess and Oversize Me.

Q: What can we expect to see in the future of My Blueberry Blog?
A: I would like a lot to offer a better design, the buttons on the right side are very shameful I am trying to learn about css and stuff but its so hard !! Also maybe feeding more the recipe section with home made videos …

Make sure to stop by My Blueberry Blog to be inspired.  You can also follow Marion on Facebook and Twitter!

1. Do not worry about finding “the one”.  There is no rush, and the more you worry, the more you’ll attract the wrong kind of people anyways.
2. It’s ok to make mistakes.  Stop beating yourself up.
3. Do not let anyone take ownership of you, and do not try to take ownership of anyone else.  When we love unconditionally the world offers itself to us.
4. Diet coke and potato chips are a miracle hangover cure no one ever told you about.
5. Always keep at least one bottle of bubbly chilling in your fridge.  If you have really great friends, keep at least two.
6. Do not diet.  It is not the time in your life to isolate yourself from your friends or any opportunity to have a great time.
7. Do not worry about going to the gym.  Go out and walk, dance, run in the open air and take the stairs.
8. Tell your girlfriends how beautiful they are.  Even the ones you don’t think need to hear it.  They do.
9. If your friend is going through a breakup let them cry.  Then bring out that bubbly I mentioned earlier.
10. Travel.
11. Spend your money on concerts, plane tickets, train tickets and nights out rather than things.
12. Do not envy anyone elses life.  Just because someone’s life looks glamorous on Instagram doesn’t mean they’ve got it all figured out.  Enjoy your own.
13. Do not wait for the perfect person, job, or opportunity to make you happy.
14. Forget regret.
15. Wear what makes you feel good.  Fuck fashion trends.  Fuck dressing for your shape.  You look great.
16. The less you care about what other people think, the more you attract the people who should be in your life.
17. It’s ok to put yourself first.
18. It’s ok to spend all day in bed.
19. It’s ok if it takes time to learn to apply some of these rules.
20. You’re alright.

These rules can also apply to 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80+ somethings.

I am falling into the pace of life here.

The other day I sat on a stoop with two beautiful French sisters drinking tea in the sunshine.  The young girl who lives across from us came up and embraced me.  A young boy came up to his mom with a bowl full of edible flowers and asked if she could make beignets in the evening.

Today I escaped the countryside for a day in the city of Toulouse.  I had plans for a tattoo but it looks like it will have to wait for Berlin.  So I took myself vintage shopping, bought a scarf and suspenders, stopped for a long leisurely hearty French lunch with a glass of rose, picked up some cheap summer duds and drank a couple of espressos.  I felt content.  It seems no amount of rain clouds can out-shadow the gratitude I’m feeling right now.

In the evening I did yoga with a friend who is German but teaches in French.  Slowly I grow accustomed to her directions and can follow along with my eyes closed, breathing into my heart and joints, pains and pleasures.

I drift between wanting more stimulation and being so perfectly content with the silence and slow pace of life.  Last night I dug through old journals and realized I have always had this restlessness.  This hunger for love.  For something more.  In some ways I am happy for it as it keeps me searching and asking questions.  I also realized how much more at ease with myself I have become.

A sweet friend sent me this today.  It hurt to read but was therapeutic and timely.

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

- Derek Walcott

Sweet scribblings from my journals of teenage angst.

I am not a natural born runner.

In fact, I’m the furthest thing from any type of athlete.  But there are times in my life when it makes sense to run.

I spent the first four months of this year sitting at a desk in an office every day and lying in bed every evening.  I had no energy.  I felt lifeless and vulnerable.

Now that I’m back in the countryside and preparing for my next solo adventures I want to feel strong.  So little by little, I’m hitting the country roads and gaining strength.  It’s a little easier with songs like this.

Woodkid – Run Boy Run (Official Video HD) from WOODKID on Vimeo.

Woodkid (Yoann Lemoine) is one of my favourite musicians.  He’s a French music video director, graphic designer and singer-songwriter.  I love how hauntingly beautiful his voice and his videos are.

I am slowly building strength.  Strength I’ll need while I’m building and doing manual labour at my workaway job next month, while leading excursions in Paris, and while feeling safe on all of the trips to come.

With physical strength comes mental strength.  I am adjusting to the idea of being on my own.  Of being okay with that.  Even getting excited about it.

When I’m running through a trail I let my fingers glide along the wet blades of grass.  I look up into the sky.  I am in the moment and I am happy.  I sometimes think “If the world were to suddenly to end now that would be ok.”

But there’s a lot to look forward to.  So I’ll keep running and becoming stronger.

*If you’re a runner you also need to try this pre-run yoga video.  The stretches are delicious.

Sometimes life is very generous.

It’s been eight years since my friend Aimée was here last.  It was the end of summer and I was suffering from a younger kind of heartbreak.

We danced in the rain, hitchhiked to a wine festival, to the next town to buy whiskey, pancake mix and chocolate, slept in a borrowed car during a storm, got into a lot of trouble, and laughed until it hurt.  It is one of my best summer memories.

When I found out she would be visiting with her parents in May I wanted to embrace the universe.  If there were ever a time for my friend with the contagious laugh and big beautiful heart to come back into my life, it is now.

And like all good things in life, not much has changed.  Our lives have gone different ways but we are the same young girls who love to drink and dance and find the humour in everything.

I could tell you about our visit to the market, or the winery for her dad’s birthday, or her perfectly cooked risotto, or the cheesy DJ we danced to last night, but I really just want to express how grateful I am.

Good friends don’t come easily.  Friendships that start when your young and hold their strength over the years are gold.  Friends that look at you and tell you straight up “You’re the whole damn package” light up your whole damn world and make you feel worthy.

I’m grateful for my friend, for her loving family, for laughing with tears in our eyes as we confessed our teenage sins.

Oh baby it’s a wild world, but with good friends it’s worth the ride.

And because all good times come with good recipes, you can find a recipe for Celebration Muffins here.

I love creative approaches towards charity.

I don’t think that going door to door or soliciting people in the street is the best way to spread a message.  Especially now, with the power of social media and clever marketing, there are so many great ways to get people involved.

This Share My Dabba system is the perfect example of a clever charity.  No one is losing out, less food is being wasted, and kids are getting the nourishment they need because of an easy to use program.

I would love to see this expand to cities all over the world.

From the program…

What is Share My Dabba?
Share My Dabba is an initiative to get uneaten food in dabbas (lunch boxes) to hungry children on the street. It’s not charity but an attempt to create a practical, every day system for food relief.

Why Share My Dabba?
300 million children across the world will go hungry today. 200 thousand in Mumbai, with 2 starving to death. All this while we leave behind food. In the dabbawala system itself, out of the 120 tons of food transported, approximately 16 tons is wasted. Wouldn’t you rather share this with a hungry child than throw it in the bin?

How does it work?
On a diet? Not feeling that hungry? Skipped lunch? More food than you can eat? If you have any food uneaten in in your dabba, all you need to do is put a Share sticker on it. The sticker allows the dabbawalas to identify the ones Shared from the ones empty. When the dabbas, on their way back, go through sorting the ones with a Share sticker are kept aside. This gives volunteers a window to open these dabbas and give the food inside to children. They then repack the dabbas and keep them back while the children finish the food.

I love it when charity is approached in a creative way.

There is a way to improve the world without knocking on doors or soliciting people in the street. Especially with the power of social media and clever marketing skills.

When do the children get the food?
Right after lunch, barely an hour and a half after it’s eaten.

What about the quality of food?
It’s the same food you would share with your colleagues or friends during lunch. Or that you would eat off your colleague’s plate. Some of it does go cold by the time it reaches the children, but remains just as nutritional. As far as transmitting germs through the food goes, would you share your food with a friend if you were ill? We expect participants to follow the same logic. If someone does paste a sticker with malicious intent, it will be traced back to them.

Will this program come to my city?
We hope so. All we need is a strong food network we can attach ourselves to. But first, we’re trying to make this work in Mumbai.

Can I help?
We will need all the help we can get. Please send your mails to happylifewelfare@gmail.com with the subject Share My Dabba.

Like the Facebook page here

Hello friends, it’s Ayah! How’s life? I just looked back through the archive and saw that I haven’t posted a recipe since JULY! Holy cow, I feel like we have so much to catch up on. I am now the mother of an amazing 6 month old boy. Motherhood is a wonderful, messy and heart expanding business, and I am blogging about that adventure over here if you want to know more.

Let’s talk about what I’ve been eating. I’ll confess that in the early months of having a baby I was in survival mode. There were many wonderful comfort foods brought over by friends, burritos picked up on the fly, and much pasta with sauce from a jar consumed. It was winter. It was dark. What I lacked in sleep, I made up for in cookies. Just when I felt like I was getting the hang of things, I went back to work part time and fell back into a spiral of shells with cheese, and nachos. So it goes.

Now, 6 months in to this journey I am finally feeling like I’ve found a groove. Spring is in full swing, the produce is excellent, and my tiny garden is starting to produce greens. Yesterday, I picked a bunch of arugula and decided to make a quick pesto. With no walnuts on hand, I decided to use some sunflower seeds, and it was a happy decision. I had some zucchini that needed to be eaten so I sliced it into ribbons, and blanched them. Some people call these zucchini noodles, and I, respectfully, call those people liars. It is a very loose usage of the sacred and delicious noodle category. Let’s not be crazy! Let’s be real and call these zucchini ribbons, and accept them for being delicious on their own merits. I tossed these ribbons with pesto, and with some chickpeas and feta thrown, it made for an excellent side dish. Look at this color, people! It’s spring on a plate.

I love French food.

The past month has been a celebration of duck confit, steak frites, pungent cheese, and rich desserts.  I have been blissfully content and enjoying every minute of it.

But when my sweet friend left me behind some healthy goodies before heading up to Paris I was elated.  I miss coming up with healthy delicious treats to share with you.

These goodies included two of my favourites: shredded coconut and goji berries.  I have been eyeing the goji berries at the health food store here but they were a little over my budget, so this little bag is gold to me.

I was craving a little something sweet this afternoon and had a small carton of coconut milk in the fridge that I’d opened for a stir fry the night before.  I decided to experiment and came up with these deliciously simple coconut goji bites.

You’re welcome to play around with the recipe as you like.  If the coconut milk seems a little heavy, you can sub part of it for a lighter nut milk.  You can also replace the stevia with a sweetener of your choice.

The only rule about these delicious little morsels is that you keep them in the freezer.  That way they stay together and are also like little bites of coconut ice cream.  Yum.

Life has brought on some big changes lately.

While Ayah raises a beautiful baby boy, I have packed my bags and moved to Europe.  I am starting my journey at my home base in the South of France and will see where life leads me next.

Last week my family and I had the joy of welcoming in my friend Aimee and her parents to our little village.  We ate and drank like kings, visited the market, danced at the town fetes, and had a special winery picnic lunch to celebrate Aimee’s dad’s birthday.

Because all celebrations call for something freshly baked, I contributed some of these celebration muffins, packed with zucchini, carrot, apples and lots of love.

The winery welcomed us with open arms and gave us a tour before we set up our tablecloth and picnic in the cellar.

Along with roasted chicken, artichoke, cheese and salad, the muffins were a success.  I’m told they go very well with goat cheese.

The celebration continued into the night with more wine, food and laughter, and we continued to enjoy the muffins over the next couple of days.  I’m happy to say they keep very well and make for a perfect afternoon snack.

I hope to share some more recipes with you from France and my travels.  In the meantime I will continue to celebrate life and all its offerings.

Looking for a high protein breakfast or snack that comes in a sweet little package?

I felt like experimenting more with coconut flour this week since it’s such a great high fibre baking ingredient.

I decided to make some protein muffins to help recover after a workout, or to enjoy as a mid-day brain boosting snack.  These muffins are packed with protein from eggs as well as a big scoop of protein powder.

The good news?  They taste much more indulgent than a protein bar and so far have pleased some tough critics.

If you love the taste of coconut, these muffins are for you!  Enjoy!

Ayah gifted me this wonderful cookbook for my birthday this year.

I’m overwhelmed by all of the amazing recipes.  They’re all very approachable, healthy, family friendly, affordable vegan recipes that you can toss into your slow cooker as you go about your day.  

Even with a meat loving husband, there are a ton of recipes in here that will go over well in our household.  The first one to catch my eye was this smokin’ chipotle bean dip.

Over here, we love anything spicy, especially if it involves chipotle.

The recipe is very straight forward and combines pinto beans, salsa, water, chipotle and chili powder for a hearty crowd pleasing dip.

It gives you the option of serving with shredded vegan cheese on top, but I served this naked with a side of Mary’s crackers before dinner.

If you were having a crowd over you could easily use this as a base for a layered dip.  If the crowd is vegan, maybe layer with some guacamole, cashew cream and Daiya cheese?  The options are endless.

Here is the recipe, have fun with it!

The weekend started off cold, windy and wet.

Last night I was craving a warm comforting stew.  I looked over a list of recommended recipes a lovely nutritionist recently gave me, and immediately knew I had to try the African Nut Butter stew from Julie Daniluk’s book Meals That Heal Inflammation.

Since I’m not one to ever follow recipes precisely, I made a few modications, but you can find the original recipe here.

This is one of the most comforting stews I’ve ever tasted.  I’m going to have to pick up a copy of Julie’s book for myself.

Stay warm and enjoy!

Ever since I was a little kid I’ve loved a hearty plate of pasta and meat sauce.

Since it’s not always the most nutritionally dense dish, I amped up my version with brown rice pasta and bison and snuck in some healthy greens.

Bison is a very lean meat.  It has 1/3 the fat of beef and is packed with loads of zinc, iron and protein per serving.  

I like picking up some Carmen Creek Bison from Whole Foods since it’s additive and hormone free. Their animals are raised naturally on wide open pasture, with unrestricted access to clean air and fresh water.  Carmen Creek Bison are raised on pure vegetable feed and are not in contact with any animal products.

I stewed my bison with a jar of organic tomato sauce and added kale, spinach and broccoli to the mix.  Topped on brown rice pasta and served with a salad, it made for a perfect mid-week meal and even better leftovers the next day.

I love bringing Asian flavours to my table.

They brighten up regular old dishes and give them new life. This miso peanut dressing has the power to do that for various dishes.

I highly recommend doubling or tripling the recipe below so that you can use it on a variety of recipes.  Starting with a simple kale slaw…

This salad is inspired by Ayah’s amazing spicy kale slaw. I mixed up this dressing using what I had on hand and was very pleased with the results!

Since I made a huge batch of miso peanut dressing, I also threw a splash of it into my marinade the other night when I wanted to dress up a simple stir fry.  A small amount went a long way and really made this dinner extra special.

Yesterday, when I wanted to use up some leftover salmon and greens, I threw them all together in a hot cast iron pan, splashed on some miso peanut dressing, and came up with a gourmet dish.

So what are you waiting for?  Do up your dishes this week with this simple dressing.  Let me know what you think!

It’s the time of year when healthy living bloggers go crazy for all things orange.

Pumpkin, squash, sweet potato, bring it on!

This recipe combines two of my personal favourites, sweet potato and pumpkin, with a spicy chipotle twist.

This soup is easy enough to throw together for a week day meal, but you can also dress it up for a dinner party with a fine drizzle of balsamic reduction, a touch of lightly roasted and salted pumpkin seeds, and a few soft hunks of your favourite white cheese.

I used feta in this recipe, but I think a creamy goat cheese would be a fantastic touch.

This soup is even better heated up the next day, so go on and make your coworkers jealous.

With summer over I am still making an effort to eat my greens.

But light green salads don’t cut it on a cool fall day.  These days I crave heartier lunches that will get me through until dinner if needed.

This miso kale salad is  perfect.  It’s hearty, filling, comforting, and very green.

The miso dressing is one of my absolute favourites.  You can find the full recipe for miso ginger dressing recipe here.  The ginger is optional and this time I went without (powdered ginger also works in a pinch).

For my miso kale salad I simply washed my kale, dried it, put it in a big bowl, and massaged it with the miso dressing.

To add some protein and fats to the salad, I bulked it up with some quinoa, cherry tomatoes, avocado, and garlic flax.

The result is a healthy salad, packed with good things and great flavour that will keep you satisfied for hours. Enjoy!