This layered quiche starts with a layer of thinly sliced butternut squash to serve as a crust. Then, a layer of Dijon mustard is spread over the squash to give this quiche a bit of kick. Thinly sliced spinach and grated carrots are added and finally, an egg mixture is poured over all these vegetables.

A layer of parmesan cheese tops it all, and makes these spinach and carrot square crispy on top and so delicious. Try this amazing recipe at your next brunch, you won’t be disappointed!

Spinach and Carrot Squares {Gluten-Free}

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

1 hour

Total time

1 hour 20 mins

 

This crustless quiche is comprised of layers of butternut squash, spinach, carrots and is topped with crispy parmesan cheese. This pefectly layered dish is perfect for breakfast or brunch.

Author: Homemade Hearts

Serves: 12 portions

Ingredients

• ½ butternut squash, peeled and thinly sliced (not cooked)
• 2 tablespoons old-fashioned Dijon style mustard
• 4 cups spinach, thinly sliced
• 5 carrots, grated
• 12 eggs
• 2 cups almond milk
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• ¼ cup parmesan cheese, grated (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven at 350 degrees F.
2. In a large rectangular baking dish (9"x13"), layer slices of butternut squash into an even layer. Spread mustard over squash. Layer half of the spinach, add grated carrots and top with the rest of the spinach.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, almond milk, oregano, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
4. Pour egg mixture in the baking dish over the layered vegetables. They egg mixture should cover the vegetables. Top with parmesan cheese.
5. Place dish in the preheated oven and bake for 50-60 minutes, until eggs are well cooked.
6. Cool down and cut into 12 squares. Can be served warm or cold.

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These small bites are really simple to prepare and will be a huge hit for your social gathering. First, you whisk together all the ingredients for the sauce that you spread on the cauliflower bites. You then bake them in the oven and serve them with the creamy avocado spread.

These bites are the perfect gluten-free and vegan replacement for the traditional chicken wings. Below you will find the simple recipe for making these cauliflower bites and the creamy avocado dip. Be sure to check out the recipes on Aloha’s website for more inspiration for your social gathering!

5.0 from 1 reviews

Buffalo and Tahini Cauliflower Bites {Gluten-Free, Vegan}

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

40 mins

 

These spicy cauliflower bites are the perfect snack for a games night or social gathering. They are the perfect gluten-free and vegan replacement for the traditional chicken wings.

Author: Homemade Hearts

Serves: 6-8 portions

Ingredients

• ½ cup Franks Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons white rice flour
• 1 teaspoon tamari sauce
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 head cauliflower, cut into bite size pieces

Instructions

1. Preheat oven at 425 degrees F.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together Buffalo Wing sauce, tahini, apple cider vinegar, rice flour, tamari and garlic powder until smooth.
3. Place cauliflower bites into a large mixing bowl and pour sauce over cauliflower. Mix and toss until all the pieces are evenly coated in sauce.
4. Place cauliflower bites onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until the cauliflower is well cooked. Flip the bites halfway through the baking to help them cook evenly on both sides.
6. Serve warm as a snack or side dish with the avocado tahini dip.

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5.0 from 1 reviews

Creamy Avocado Dip

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Total time

10 mins

 

This simple avocado dip is so creamy and can be served with the buffalo and tahini cauliflower bites. You can also use this dip on any other vegetables or use it as a spread in sandwiches and wraps.

Author: Homemade Hearts

Serves: 1 cup

Ingredients

• 2 ripe avocados
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 teaspoon Franks Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce (optional)
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

1. Place all ingredients in high speed blender or food processor. Blend until smooth.
2. Serve with buffalo and tahini cauliflower bites, with vegetables or as a spread on sandwiches.

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Here is a super quick and delicious smoothie that tastes just like banana split, but is super healthy. You can now wake up to a delicious banana split every day!!!

Banana Split Smoothie

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Total time

5 mins

 

This smoothie is just like a banana split in a glass! Bananas, cherries, vanilla and chocolate are all blended together in this super healthy and energy boosting drink.

Author: Homemade Hearts

Serves: 2-3 servings

Ingredients

• 2 bananas
• 1 cups frozen cherries (or strawberries)
• 3 dates
• 2 cups almond milk
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Place all ingredients in high speed blender and blend until smooth.
2. Serve cold.

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Preparing these twice baked sweet potatoes is a bit of work, but totally worth it if you ask me! First, you bake the sweet potatoes in the oven. Then, the rest is simple: you scoop most of the flesh out, mix it with other veggies and spices, and fill it up again.

I love to top these with sesame seeds, but if you eat dairy, you could top it with fresh parmesan cheese before you bake them again. Don’t get discouraged by all the steps and give it a try You can definitely change up the vegetables and use what you have on hand. To mix it up, you could even incorporate olives or sundried tomatoes!

Veggie Loaded Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

 

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Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

1 hour 10 mins

Total time

1 hour 40 mins

 

These twice baked sweet potatoes are loaded with vegetables. They are the perfect side dish or can also be eaten on their own for lunch.

Author: Homemade Hearts

Serves: 5 servings

Ingredients

• 5 medium size sweet potatoes
• 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil

For the stuffing:

• ½ cup walnuts, roasted
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 1 bell pepper
• 8 white mushrooms
• 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon sesame seeds (for topping, optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven at 400 degrees F.
2. Wash sweet potatoes and pat them dry. With a fork, poke a few holes in each of the potatoes and rub grapeseed oil on the potatoes.
3. Place potatoes on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake in preheated oven for 50-55 minutes, or until tender when a knife is placed in the center of the potato.
4. While the potatoes are cooking, place walnuts, broccoli, pepper and mushrooms into a food process and chop everything.
5. Transfer into a large mixing bowl and add the nutritional yeast, garlic powder, turmeric, cumin, salt and pepper. Mix well.
6. Once the potatoes are baked, cool them until you can handle them without burning your hands and carefully cut a small slice off the top of each potato to expose the flesh.
7. Scoop the flesh out of each potato, leaving about ½ inch thick of flesh into each potato shell. Place sweet potato flesh into the mixing bowl and combine with all the other vegetables.
8. Scoop the stuffing back into each potato shell. Top with sesame seeds.
9. Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes.
10. Serve warm.

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I used some awesome tri colour popping corn kernels that I found at Costco, but this is not essential for the recipe. You can use any type of kernels that you have on hand! Preparing this snack is so simple: you take some popcorn on which you drizzle black truffle olive oil and sprinkle black truffle sea salt. I found the olive oil and sea salt at our local olive oil tasting room called O’Leva, but check in your local area, there is definitely a lovely place where you will be able to find black truffle products… and once you try it, you cannot go without it!

The best trick I found to evenly distribute the seasoning in your popcorn is to place everything in a bag and shake it! It is so much fun to prepare! Here is the super simple recipe.

Black Truffle Popcorn

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Total time

5 mins

 

This amazing healthy snack is flavoured with black truffle olive oil and sea salt. So simple yet so delicious!

Author: Homemade Hearts

Serves: 2 portions

Ingredients

• 8 cups popped popcorn (1/3 cup popping corn kernels)
• 1 tablespoon black truffle olive oil
• ½ teaspoon black truffle sea salt (or regular sea salt)

Instructions

1. Place popped popcorn in a large ziploc bag.
2. Drizzle popcorn with olive oil and sprinkle sea salt.
3. Close the bag, leaving air inside the bag.
4. Shake the bag to distribute the oil and sea salt on all the popcorn pieces.
5. When well seasonned, pour into two bowls and enjoy!
6. You can store prepared popcorn in airtight container for 3-4 days.

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The local ingredients that we are featuring this month were provided by two awesome local companies. First, Five Brothers Artisan Cheese gave us a huge piece of its exquisite smoked cheddar. Then, O’Leva was super generous and gave us a bottle of chipotle olive oil and a bottle of peach white balsamic vinegar. They suggested this special pairing to go with the smoked cheddar, and believe me, they know what they are doing because this combination helped us create the perfect salad dressing.

With these delicious ingredients provided by two great local companies, Melany and I decided to create warming and colourful quinoa salad is filled with perfectly roasted vegetables, plump pomegranate seeds, delicious smoked cheddar from Five Brothers Artisan Cheese and a smokey chipotle dressing made with oils from O’Leva. This flavourful salad can be served as a full meal or as a side dish.

Hope you enjoy and don’t forget to check out these two local companies!!! Also, Five Brother Artisan Cheese is almost done getting it’s new factory ready in the Goulds and has lots of new fun equipment to produce even more cheese! I can’t wait to try their fresh cheese curds!

Roasted Vegetable & Quinoa Salad with Smoked Cheddar & Chipotle Dressing {Gluten-Free}

 

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Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

1 hour

 

This warming and colourful quinoa salad is filled with perfectly roasted vegetables, plump pomegranate seeds, delicious smoked cheddar from Five Brothers Artisan Cheese and a smokey chipotle dressing made with oils from O’Leva. This flavourful salad can be served as a full meal or as a side dish.

Author: Homemade Hearts and Fine Food Factory

Serves: 8 servings

Ingredients

Salad

• 4 cups butternut squash, cubed
• 4 cups Brussels sprouts, cut in half
• 2 medium onions, diced
• 5 cloves garlic, cut in half
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 cups cooked quinoa
• 1 cup Five Brothers Cheese smoked cheddar, cubed
• ½ cup pomegranate seeds or dried cranberries

Chipotle Dressing

• ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• ¼ cup O’Leva Chipotle infused olive oil
• ½ cup O’Leva peach white balsamic vinegar
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven at 400 degrees F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine butternut squash, Brussels sprouts, onions, garlic with 4 tablespoons olive oil, sea salt and black pepper.
3. Place vegetables on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until soft and golden. Mix the vegetables after 15 minutes of cooking to ensure they roast evenly.
4. Let the roasted vegetables cool for 20-30 minutes.
5. In a small bowl, whisk together the chipotle dressing ingredients: olive oils, white balsamic vinegar, sea salt and pepper.
6. Once the roasted vegetables have cool down, transfer them to a large salad bowl and mix in with cooked quinoa, smoked cheddar and pomegranate seeds.
7. Pour chipotle dressing over the salad and mix well.
8. Serve and enjoy.

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It is so amazing that you can have super moist and chocolaty muffins while only needing to clean one bowl afterwards. These muffins are great for breakfast or a snack. They do not contain any refined sugar, as they are sweetened only with bananas and a bit of agave nectar. I have made those a few times and they have definitely become a morning staple!

One Bowl Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Muffins

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

25 mins

 

These flourless muffins are so fluffy you would never guess there is not one bit of flour in it. The peanut butter, bananas and chocolate make them so moist and so tasty. The greatest benefit of this recipe is that all the ingredients go in your food processor container, so you only have one bowl to clean. They are the perfect muffin for a healthy breakfast or mid-day snack.

Author: Homemade Hearts, adapted from Detoxinista

Serves: 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-natural peanut butter
• 2 ripe bananas
• ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ¼ cup agave nectar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven at 350 degrees F.
2. Grease one muffin pan (12 muffins) with butter or coconut oil.
3. Place all ingredients in food processor and process until even batter. The chocolate chips will break down a bit, but you will still have chocolate chunks.
4. Scoop ¼ cup of batter in each of the greased muffin cavity.
5. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until golden and when a toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool in muffin pan for 15 minutes before removing muffins. Let them cool on a wire rack.
7. Store in airtight container in refrigerator for about 5 days.

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This chili is such a hearty meal with the quinoa, black beans and chickpeas that bring loads of protein and all the veggies that are also included. You can adapt this recipe depending on what vegetables you have in your fridge, but I love the combination of sweet potato, carrots and bell pepper.

Do you often make slow cooker meals in the winter? What are your favourite meals?

Slow Cooker Quinoa and Sweet Potato Chili

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

6 hours

Total time

6 hours 20 mins

 

This chili is so flavourful and hearty and only requires a few minutes of hands-on preparation. It is a great meal to make ahead during the cold winter. Quinoa, black beans and chickpeas fill this chili with protein while all the vegetables will bring you lots of nutrients.

Author: Homemade Hearts

Serves: 10-12 portions

Ingredients

• 1 onion, minced
• 1 bell pepper (any colour), seeded and diced
• 1 sweet potato, diced
• 5 carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 cup quinoa, uncooked
• 1½ cup water
• 2 cans (28 ounces) organic diced tomatoes
• 1 can (14 ounces) black beans, rinsed
• 1 can (19 ounces) chickpeas, rinsed
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Place all the ingredients in the slow cooker and mix.
2. Cook on High for 6 hours.
3. Serve warm and top with avocados or cheese.
4. Store leftover in airtight container in the refrigerator for 5-7 days. This chili can also be frozen.

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I am now working on a few fun things for 2015, such as an awesome ebook, but more on this in the near future. Thank you for all your support over the past year and I am looking forward to more delicious recipes, fun projects and culinary discoveries in 2015.

Now that the holiday season is over, I have been craving soup. If you are like me and just want a light but delicious meal, you must try this cream of vegetables. It is really simple to make, yet the combination of flavours is so delicate and delicious. Portobello mushrooms are mixed with asparagus and topped with a drizzle of black truffle oil for an enhanced mushroom flavour. You can add a beautiful swirl of plain yogurt to make it even creamier, or keep it vegan by omitting the yogurt.

This yogurt swirl just makes the soup look like it could be served in a restaurant. Are you wondering how to get this super pretty swirly effect? It is very simple, all you have to do is to drop a spoonful of plain yogurt in the middle of your soup. Then, using a clean knife or chopstick, simply trace horizontal and vertical lines in the soup, going through the yogurt and finish off with a circular motion to create these beautiful swirls. It only takes a few tries to master this swirling technique! Without waiting any longer here is the recipe, try it and practice your swirling technique. Hope you enjoy!

Cream of Asparagus, Portobello and Black Truffle

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

45 mins

 

This cream of asparagus and portobello mushroom is flavoured with white miso and topped with a drizzle of delicate black truffle oil for a truly enhanced mushroom flavour.

Author: Homemade Hearts

Serves: 6-8 portions

Ingredients

• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
• 2 large portobello mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 15-20 asparagus, cleaned and cut into 3-4 pieces
• 2 cups broccoli, roughly chopped
• 3 to 4 cups water
• 1 tablespoon white miso
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon celery seeds
• 1 teaspoon herbes de provence
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoon black truffle oil
• 2 tablespoons yogurt (optional)

Instructions

1. In a large pot over medium heat, cook onion in grapeseed oil until soft.
2. Add portobello mushrooms, asparagus, broccoli, water, miso, garlic powder, celery seeds, herbes de provence, salt and pepper. Start by adding 3 cups of water, the water should just cover the vegetables. Add more water as needed.
3. Bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
4. Transfer soup into a blender and blend until smooth.
5. Serve soup into bowls and garnish with a drizzle of black truffle oil and a dollop of plain yogurt (optional).

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Making macarons is quite challenging so it was amazing to be making it with the two chefs who know all the techniques to make successful macarons! Be warned that if you want to make some, you need to have a kitchen scale and a candy thermometer since you need to precisely weigh the ingredients and use your thermometer to get the right temperature for the meringue.

In order to be more efficient on the day of macarons making, we each prepared fillings the day before. Here are the filling flavours that we prepared:

• Orange (white chocolate ganache with zest from one full orange)
• Pistachio (buttercream frosting with ground pistachio)
• Espresso (dark chocolate ganache with instant espresso powder)
• Blueberry (white chocolate ganache with fresh blueberries)
• Green Tea (white chocolate ganache with matcha green tea powder)
• Raspberry (jar of raspberry jam)
• Strawberry (jar of strawberry jam)
• Lemon (lemon curd)
• Nutella (a big jar of nutella!)
• Caramel Fleur de Sel (the caramel was too runny so we did not end up making many – we will work on a recipe until we make some more again!)

Here are a few of the steps to do for making macarons. First, you need to sift the almond flour with powdered sugar to ensure there are no large clumps of almond in your mixture.

Then you prepare an Italian meringue (instructions below), mix it with the almond mixture to obtain your batter, to which you can add colour. You pipe the batter on parchment paper lined baking sheets. To make almost perfect circles, we traced 4 cm diameter circles on a parchment paper to use as a guide. We placed that sheet under the parchment paper to make it super easy to pipe the macarons.

Once the shells are piped, we gently tapped the baking sheet on the table to flatten the top of the macarons to get nice and smooth shells. After, you have to let the macarons set for about 30 minutes until a crust forms on top.

Finally, you bake them in the oven and once cool, add your delicious filling and assemble them. The result is magnificent and so amazing! We made 11 batches of this recipe in one day, to get 770 macarons! It was an intense day, but we were so happy to each leave with more than 150 macarons of all different colours and flavours! Here is the recipe that made those perfect macarons! There are many recipes out there, but this is Sophie’s favourite recipe and it worked wonderfully for us!

French Macaron Shells

 

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Prep time

1 hour

Cook time

14 mins

Total time

1 hour 14 mins

 

These classic French macaron are entirely gluten-free. They are made with finely ground almond flour and an Italian meringue for perfect results! This recipe makes approximately 140 shells, for assembling 70 macarons.

Author: Homemade Hearts, adapted from Cook'n With Class

Serves: 140 shells

Ingredients

Base

• 300 grams almond flour
• 300 grams powdered sugar
• 110 grams egg whites

Italian Meringue

• 300 grams white sugar (regular sugar, granulated)
• 75 grams water
• 110 grams egg whites

Making Macarons

• Gel or powdered food colouring (Do not use liquid food colouring. For natural colour, you can use 30 grams cocoa powder for brown shells)
• 525 mL filling (such as fruit jam, white or dark chocolate ganache with flavours (see examples in above post), Nutella, etc)

Instructions

Base

1. The first step is to weigh almond flour and powdered sugar and sift them together to remove any large bits of almond flour.
2. Once sifted, weigh the mixture again and replace any missing weight with the same amount of sifted almond meal. You should have 600 grams of the mixture in total.
3. Pour 110 grams egg whites over the almond flour mixture and set aside. Do not mix.

Italian Meringue

1. To make the Italian meringue, you need to put white sugar and water in a small pot.
2. Cook sugar on medium heat until temperature reaches 110 C (230 F).
3. When the sugar reaches this temperature, start whipping the other quantity of egg white (110 grams) in a stand mixer, at a high speed. You should mix until peaks form in the egg whites.
4. When the sugar temperature reaches 115 C (239 F), slowly pour the sugar onto the whipping egg whites and keep the mixer going at high speed for about one minute.
5. Reduce the speed of mixer to medium and keep whipping for a few minutes, until the mixture reaches temperature 50 C (122 F).

Making Macarons

1. With a spatula, fold in the meringue into the almond/egg mixture until the mixture starts to become shiny. You do not want to overmix because the batter will become to thin and will be hard to pipe.
2. Add the food colouring or cocoa powder and gently mix to distribute evenly.
3. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1 cm round tip with the mixture.
4. Pipe rounds of about 4cm (1.5 inches) diameter onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
5. Tap the baking sheet gently to remove any piping imperfections (you don't need to do this step if there are no imperfections such as bumps or air bubbles in your shells).
6. Preheat oven at 300 degrees F.
7. Set the piped shells aside at room temperature for 30 minutes to one hour, or until the shells form a skin (dry layer on top of the shell)
8. Cook for approximately 14 minutes. After 8 minutes, you should prop the oven door slightly open with a wooden spoon to let the humidity escape the oven. To know if the shells are fully cooked, you can gently giggle the top of a shell and if the inside of the shell does not move, or if the shell lifts up from the parchment paper, it means that it is ready. If you feel that the insides of the shell is still soft and moves, leave the tray in the oven for a few more minutes.
9. When the shells are ready, slide the parchment paper off the baking sheet onto a cold surface (marble, steel, glass) to stop the cooking.
10. Let the shells cool until you can easily detach them from the parchment paper.
11. Pour your chosen filling into a piping bag.
12. Pipe the filling on the bottom flat side of the shells. Only include filling on half of the shells, you can make a small mount of filling in the center of the shell.
13. Take a shell that does not have filling and grently press it over a shell with filling in a circular motion to spread the filling evenly.
14. You now have a beautiful macarons!
15. Store the macarons in an airtight container the refrigerator and serve at room temperature. You can also freeze the macarons to keep them longer. You simply need to transfer them to the refrigerator a few hours before serving them.

Notes

Here are a few tips to make perfect macarons:
1. Macarons tend to crack when there is a lot of moisture in the air so try to make them on a dry day (avoid rainy days!) It started raining when we were making our macarons and we had probably close to 10% of our macarons crack because of humidity!
2. Separate your egg whites a few days before making the macarons and let them sit in a container, in the refrigerator for a few days. On the morning of your macaron making day, set the egg whites on your counter since they need to be at room temperature for better results.
3. Prepare your filling at least one day before making the shells to ensure it has enough time to cool down and set.
4. To get perfectly round macarons, trace even circles on a parchment paper sheet and place it under your "real" parchment paper sheet as a guide when piping the shells. We fit 48 shells on one large baking tray (6 shells wide by 8 shells long).

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