Coconut Curry & Beet Greens Soup

We made this soup the other night and it was just so good I had to share it with you!

The inspiration for this soup came from the copious amounts of beet leaves I had. I hate to waste food, especially when it is so fresh and incredibly nutritious for you. Why did I have so many beet leaves kicking around you ask? Well, as you might know, in our business, we are all about using natural flavours & colours to create our Parisian Macarons. Our beautiful pink macarons, such as our current Raspberry Passionfruit Macaron, are coloured by extracting the red from beets.

Each week, I slice many beets for these macarons and in the process end up with lots of beet greens I just can’t stand to toss. Sometimes we steam them or chop them into a salad, but this time I was looking for a new idea. It was a toss up between using the leaves to make “cabbage” rolls and featuring them in a soup. This time, or rather the lack of time I had this week, I was inclined to do something quick and easy. Soup it is!

Coconut Curry & Beet Greens Soup

Ingredients

8 c. beet leaves, washed and chopped
1 ¼ c. dried beans (soaked over night, drained)
3 med. white potatoes, cubed
2 liters chicken stock
2 cans coconut milk
5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 onions, diced
¼ c. grape seed oil
3 tbsp. grated ginger
2 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. cayenne
1 tbsp. cumin
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. tumeric
¼ tsp. black pepper
1 tbsp. yellow curry powder
3 tbsp. coconut sugar
¼ c. cashew butter
1 bunch of cilantro, roughly chopped

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large pot. Add onions, garlic and ginger and allow to cook until onions become translucent.
2. Add spices. Cook for 30 seconds.
3. Add coconut milk and chicken stock, potatoes & beans. Let simmer until beans and potatoes are tender.
4. Add coconut sugar, cashew butter and cilantro. Allow to cook for 5-10 minutes more. Check your seasoning and adjust as necessary.

Enjoy! Leftovers can be frozen for convenient future meals.

Sorry I didn’t take a picture of the finished product. Got straight to the eating and forgot! To read a little about the health benefits of beet greens, check here.

International Macaron Day!

International Macaron Day – Le “Jour de Macaron” was initiated 7 years ago by the infamous French chef Pierre Hermé. This day is designed to celebrate the macaron (indeed a delicacy to find joy in!) and to support a variety of charitable causes around the world. This will be Vancouver’s First Macaron Day and we’re thrilled to use this day as a platform to launch our macaron partnership with Urban Fare. Our beautifully natural, locally handcrafted macarons will now be displayed in all Urban Fare bakery display cases. We appreciate your support, please share the news and go get some!

One year ago, at the Vancouver Foodie Feast, we made our macarons available to the public for the first time, where all net proceeds from the event were donated to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society. Today, purchase one or more of our macarons from Urban Fare (find them in the bakery display) and let us know about it on Twitter or our Facebook Page using the hashtag #kitcheningurbanfare. For each tweet or comment we’ll donate $1 to the Greater Vancouver Food Society – Basics for Babies Program (help us reach our goal of $500!).

Urban Fare Locations
Shangri-La: 1133 Alberni Street
Yaletown: 177 Davie Street
Coal Harbour: 305 Bute Street

Quinoa Pizza Crust

Last month, I visited the Mercy home in Surrey to do some personal life story sharing and to cook and eat with the girls. On other occasions at the Mercy home, I’d taught meal planning & budgeting classes (you might be interested in my previous post on those visits), but what fun is it to talk all about food without cooking and eating together? This visit moved us into the kitchen.

With so many different girls each with their own food needs, interests & dietary requirements, we planned a menu full of variety and flexibility. It was a great challenge and fun for me to test out this quinoa pizza crust ahead of time. You’ve got to try to believe it; I had no idea you could blend up quinoa to make a pizza crust. We don’t avoid gluten in our home, but I love seeing all that is possible. Now I’m wondering what else I could use to make a pizza crust (if you enjoy trying gluten free recipes, you might also want to check out this recipe for gluten free pumpkin muffins)

We also did a cauliflower pizza crust, tried out a breakfast pizza (complete with a couple eggs on top!) and used goat cheese from Milner Valley Cheese. Pizza making parties with adults and kids is quickly becoming a favourite hobby of mine.

Recipe – Gluten Free Quinoa Pizza Crust

~makes 2 thin 8 inch crusts

Adapted from: http://forlifepersonalchef.com

1 1/2c. quinoa, soaked overnight (or for the day) and drained

1/2 – 3/4 c. water

1 tsp. coarse salt (kosher or sea salt)

1/4c. olive oil

Preheat oven to 450º F. Place the quinoa, water, and salt in a blender and blend until creamy. The consistency will be thick (like pancake batter). Start with 1/2c. water and see if you need more.

Divide the olive oil and cover the bottom of two 8 inch cake pans. Place the pans in the oven until they are shimmering hot (not smoking). Remove from the oven. At this point, you can add some minced garlic and/or herbs if you would like. Divide the quinoa mixture evenly. Bake for 15 minutes. Flip the crusts over and return to bake another 10 minutes.  They should be brown and crispy. Add toppings and bake for another 5 minutes.

Dessert Pizza

Add a sprinkle of cinnamon and 2-3 tsp of sugar to the blended quinoa batter. Bake as directed above.

Thinly slice 4-5 apples and lightly cook in a frying pan with a little butter. Add 1 – 1 ½ cups of brown sugar and 1-2 tsp of cinnamon. For more sauce, add ¼ – ½ cup of water. Once boiling, stir in a tablespoon of cornstarch that has been previously dissolved in a little water or apple juice. Add the apples to the crust and serve a la mode or with plain Greek-style yogurt.