Oh here I am again.
It’s not that I didn’t want to blog – but do you really want to see the boring meals that I’ve been eating? Or the really unadventurous things I’ve been cooking up. Well, there have been a few gems, but I’m so out of the habit that my camera has been neglected and rarely gets used to document my cooking.
Two great things I made (no photos – just the recipes):
–Roasted Carrot & Avocado Salad (via NYT c/o ABC Kitchen)
–Salmon Tartare (via Bon Appetit/Epicurious.com)
The salmon dish is really, really simple. It’s a great dish to bring to a dinner party (as I did). Please don’t be scared of serving uncooked fish, just make sure it’s fresh and comes from a reputable fishmonger. I am lucky to have a great one across the street from me that serves only wild fish. I usually up the ante a bit with the recipe and add a generous splash of sriracha for an added kick.
The roasted carrot dish turned out really well – it took a bit longer than expected to cook, so please budget your time well with some extra in case!
One of the reasons I have blogged about my food is because it’s…really quite boring these days. Far more functional than I’d like, and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t appreciate pictures of the wraps I make at work (tip: pack your fillings & tortilla separately, assemble at work). As I work a pretty sedentary job, I’m trying to eat healthy and bring nutritious snacks.
In looking for healthy alternatives, I found some great ideas to make my own granola bars. Boxed, store-bought bars are tasty – but they are chock full of processed sugars. This great recipe from The Kitchn uses brown rice syrup as a binder and it works beautifully! I think you can even make this recipe gluten-free if you are careful with the type of oats and rice cereal.
Essentially you prepare 2.5 cups of oats/cereal mix and another 1.5 of mixins. For this batch I used dried cranberries, dried apricots, slivered almonds, dried figs and cashews (leftovers from making homemade granola). Then mix in 1/2 cup of warmed brown rice syrup (with some vanilla and salt added), mix well, press-in-a-pan, bake and you’re done!
The recipe here: How to Make Homemade Granola Bars (from The Kitchn)
To be honest, this recipe was easy – but the results I had were really boring. They were TOO healthy! My next batch, I kicked it up with toasted coconut, toasted hazelnuts, cranberries, yogurt chips and a generous scoop of peanut butter. I gotta say – the toasted hazelnuts gave it a really luxe flavour – they are amazing. So be creative! Add in the ingredients that you love.
Happy (healthy) baking!
BA in Vancouver 
Thanks for posting the recipes! Both the carrots and the salmon were delicious. I have some carrots in my fridge right now, will try it out 🙂