Satay Sauce

My toddler will eat kale and green beans if smothered in this sauce. He HATES green beans.

The original recipe is intended to be a satay dipping sauce but I think it can be used in a variety of ways. It only takes a few minutes to make and I always have the ingredients on hand.

Makes 3.5 cups and lasts a while in the refrigerator.

 Ingredients

• 3/4 of a 13.5-ounce (400 ml) can of full-fat, unsweetened coconut milk (original recipe calls for the whole can but the coconut flavour is too overpowering for my taste)
• 2 teaspoons of Thai red curry paste
• ¾ cup unsweetened natural creamy peanut butter (or more, to taste)
• ½ tablespoon salt
• ¾ cup coconut sugar
• 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
• ½ cup water
• 1 TBS Sriracha sauce
• optional: tsp of freshly grated ginger 

 

Instructions

1. Gently boil all of the ingredients in a pot, whisking constantly.
2. Let the mixture simmer for 3-5 minutes over low heat. 
3. Take the pot off the heat, let the sauce cool down to room temperature and serve (e.g., with fried tofu). OR store the sauce in a mason jar and heat it up in a pan, along with vegetables, rice, tofu etc. The sauce will thicken considerably in the refrigerator - add some water to thin it out if desired.

Thai Chili Sauce

I have always liked sweet & spicy thai chili sauce but never considered making my own until recently. My mother-in-law brought over a dish that she usually serves with store-bought thai sauce, which she forgot at home.

I made it in under 20 minutes.  Doing it yourself allows you to modify the sugar content, control the spice and you can be sure that the ingredients are fresh.

This recipe works well with coconut sugar - you can easily get away with less than one cup. You can also try a slurry of gluten-free flour or tapioca flour as a thickener instead of cornstarch if you prefer.

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup rice vinegar
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons fresh ginger root, minced
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons hot chili pepper flakes                               
• 2 teaspoons ketchup
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch (mixed with about 1 TB of cold water)         

Directions

1. In a saucepan over high heat, bring water and vinegar to a boil. Stir in sugar, ginger, garlic, chili pepper, and ketchup.  Simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Stir in cornstarch. Remove saucepan from stove to cool. Transfer to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate until needed.

Protein bars (easy, no-bake)

So 2015 was not a stellar year for this blog, with a baby and little to no help in the kitchen...

Our lovely Ana went on to pursue a graduate degree but we are so grateful to Heather who recently joined us! For our first experiment together, we made these easy no-bake protein bars from one of my favourite sites. They came out beautifully, thanks to Heather. The only substitution was a homemade "chocolate" drizzle (carob) instead of using store-bought chips.

Ingredients:

    • 1.5 cups gluten-free rolled oats, blended into a flour
    • 1/2 cup unsweetened/unflavoured vegan protein powder (I use Manitoba Harvest hemp protein)
    • 1/2 cup rice crisp cereal (I used puffed rice since that's all I had)
    • 1/4-1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
    • 1/2 cup natural peanut butter (or butter of choice)
    • 1/2 cup pure maple syrup (or liquid sweetener of choice)
    • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I prefer alcohol-free)
    • 3 tablespoons mini dark chocolate chips (or make your carob chips)
    • 1/2 tablespoon coconut oil

Directions:

1. Line an 8-inch square pan with a piece of parchment paper. 
2. In large bowl, mix the dry ingredients together: oat flour, protein powder, rice crisp, and salt. 
3. Add the nut butter, maple syrup, and vanilla. Stir well and add a bit of non-dairy milk if it's too dry. Press the mixture into the pan and roll it out with a pastry / or pasta roller until smooth. Put it into the freezer. 
4. Melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil together in a small pot over low heat. When half of the chips have melted, remove from heat and stir until smooth. OR make your own melted "chocolate" by mixing these ingredients in a small pot on the stove. Leave it on a very low heat until your bars are ready (no need to freeze in a container. You're not making chips).
5. After freezing the bars for about 5-10 minutes, remove them from freezer and slice into 12 bars. Drizzle with the melted chocolate and freeze again until set.

They are delicious straight out of the freezer.