Good Morning!!

How are you doing today? I’ve got heaps of new things to share with you today so I will get right down to bid’niss! This week’s Try Something New Tuesday had a theme: Superfoods. Many of the eats were inspired by some of my favourite foodie bloggers who have been raving about these foods for a while, so I decided to see what all the fuss was about. I have to say I was absolutely delighted with everything tried yesterday. Here we go!

1. A New Recipe of the Week!

I dropped a hint about this in Monday’s post, but wanted to wait until today to unveil the recipe because it was definitely the best one tested this week. So here you are: Chicken & Chickpea Tagine.

2. A new breakfast! Yes, an absolute shocker, I know. I resisted the veggie scramble yesterday in favour of Overnight Oats, a foodie blog trend that I’m SO late catching on to, but I cannot believe I waited this long. This was truly a bowl of beauty. There are heaps of possible variations (you won’t ever hear me say that I’m bored of oats, I guarantee), but I made my debut with Blueberry Overnight Oats. Everything about them was absolutely gorgeous.

My Blueberry Overnight Oats, which were enjoyed with....

...peaches, strawberries and raspberries from the farmer's market.

The superfood in the Overnight Oats recipe is chia seeds. These tiny seeds are packed with all sorts of goodies that your body needs, including fiber, omega 3′s, antioxidants, and calcium. They don’t really have a taste, and look very similar to poppyseeds. For more information, uses, and recipes, check out this source. I purchased mine from Bulk Barn, but since learning about what a chia seed is, I’ve also noticed them in some major grocery stores.

3….And a new lunch: My lunchtime inspiration came from an Eating Well recipe, but I felt the need to up the veggie content of it. Using some green beans and snow peas that I bought this weekend at the market, I came up with Snap Peas and Green Bean Salad with Chicken. The chicken could really be substituted out for a vegetarian option, but one ingredient I certainly recommend not subbing is the toasted sesame oil. This gives the dish SUCH a nice flavour. Oh, and the cashews of course, because they’re pretty delicious as well, especially with the sesame dressing.

4. A new veggie: Kale. This is another brilliant superfood that is packed with nutrition benefits. Many of my bloggy friends have been talking about kale chips, which are super easy to make, and very difficult to mess up (unless you forget to take them out of the oven, which I nearly did.)

Kale contains phytonutrients that are believed to fight cancer, and is also an excellent source of calcium and vitamins A, K and C. (For more info, click here.) First, I washed the kale and tore off about 8 large leaves. In a bowl, i drizzled them with olive oil and sprinkled on some sea salt and black pepper. After giving it a good mix, I placed each piece on a baking sheet and popped it in the oven for about 15 mins at 350 degrees.

Kale Chips

When they came out, they didn’t look overly appetizing, but they are so tasty! I could have done with a little less salt – note to self for next time! They were super crispy and crunchy. I’m wondering about using different seasonings and making an Asian-inspired version with ginger and some chinese 5-spice… hmmm… Has anyone ever tried a variation that you’d recommend?

5. A new smoothie ingredient: Maca! I first heard about this little gem from the lovely Gina. Maca root comes from Peru, where the roots are dried, then milled at low temperatures (so as not to destroy nutrients). It is a versatile food that is believed to combat fatigue and increase stamina. (Yes, please!) Maca is packed with vitamins and minerals (it is a good source of calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, and iron), and can be added to smoothies, shakes, baked goods, salads, cereals, and hot drinks in order to increase nutritional content. To learn more about the benefits of maca, click here. I also found mine at Bulk Barn, but have seen it in local health stores too.

I did just as the advice on the bin at Bulk Barn advised, and added some organic maca root powder to what I’ve called the Superfruit Smoothie. There’s no shortage of antioxidants in this recipe!

Topped with a strawberry and some Kashi Go Lean

6. Another new vegetable!

What is this you ask? No, it’s not a green beast taking over my hand. They’re garlic scapes! I know what you’re thinking. Maca… then garlic scapes. Has Angela gone mental? Does she intentionally go out and find the most obscure, unheard of foods just to confuse everyone?! Well, sort of. But only on Tuesdays. I actually learned about this veggie from my name twin, Angela, who recently made some vegan garlic scape pesto. Since I am not vegan, I adapted the recipe and made it with parmesan cheese (which I am becoming increasingly more fond of these days).  According to this source, garlic scapes are the tops of the garlic, which form before the bulb develops. They are more mild than the bulb itself, and can be cooked in similar ways to asparagus (roasted, in stir fry dishes, on the grill, etc.) This is what my Garlic Scape Pesto looked like:

Now, I admit I may be a little crazy, but do you see a cute little face in the pesto, looking slightly to the left?? I only just noticed this – I swear it wasn’t intentional!

Since I don’t yet own a food processor, I made the pesto in my blender. It took quite a while to get all the scapes blended, but eventually the mix was pretty smooth. I couldn’t help but notice that my kitchen was definitely emanating a strong garlicky smell, so I made sure to clean the blender very, very well afterwards. (Scapes are great, but I don’t really care to have any of them sneaking into my smoothies, thank you.)

The great thing about pesto (or so I’ve read in the past) is that it can be frozen in ice cube trays if you don’t want to use it all right away. It can be popped out of the trays any time you want to add flavour to meals – for example, stirring it into pasta dishes, or defrosting it and using it as a sauce for meats. This is exactly what I did. For dinner, my chicken was coated with about a tablespoon of Garlic Scape Pesto, and baked in the oven.

I know, I know. 2 chicken-based meals in one day is a little boring. It didn’t occur to me until after that I also had some cod in the fridge, but oh well. This was delicious and the smell of the pesto wasn’t nearly as pungent coming out of the oven as it had been in the blender. It gave the chicken (which I didn’t even marinade beforehand) a delicious taste.

And that, dear bloggies, is a run-down of all my new things from yesterday. Do you think I managed to get my recommended 5-10 servings of veggies? Hehehe

Today

I’ll be on campus allllll day today, in meetings and class. Although the thought of this makes me feel tired, I’m so excited that as of tomorrow, there’s only 1 month of classes left until I’m finished my undergrad! Wooo!

I hope you have a happy humpday!

Questions for today:

• Have you tried any of the superfoods I listed above? What are your favourite ways to use them?
• Do you tend to eat the same thing breakfast every day? I’m slowly coming out of this habit – expect to see lots of overnight oat variations in the coming weeks!