Healthy "Nutella".

Another Happy Pear recipe! I adapted it to make it vegan. First I roasted hazelnuts, then whizzed them in my Blendtec with a little sunflower oil. I was so pleased my blender was able to get it pretty smooth.

Then I poured the hazelnut butter into a bowl and added maple syrup (original recipe uses honey), salt, cocoa powder and vanilla. That's it!

It's not super smooth like store bought stuff but I don't mind the texture at all.

It's good on apples or any fruit, cake, bread and in smoothies. It's a cross between Nutella and Ferrero Rocher.

Puy Lentil Coconut Dahl & Banana Cake.

Beautiful dahl recipe from The Happy Pear cookbook. I'm so in love with their food! I had to substitute a few things because I didn't have them. I used a garnet yam instead of butternut and kabocha squash. I know the squash would have been amazing. Didn't have pak choi so I used baby spinach.

I had some with a bit of white rice. Very very good. The coconut milk is what makes this dish. It is very similar to Thai Masaman curry. Just gorgeous flavors.

Vegan banana cake. Nothing healthy about this! It'll be good with a cup o' tea.

Pear-Apple-Blueberry Crumble.

Third post of the day and I had to show you. After I cleared the dishes and cleaned up after having my delicious burger dinner, I noticed the apples and very ripe pears in the fruit bowl. "I should make a crumble with those.", I thought. Then a few minutes later, I had a very strong urge to do it NOW. So off I went and chopped up the fruit and added it to a bowl with cornstarch, lemon, cinnamon and a bit of maple syrup. Then I made a crumble topping of melted Earth Balance, bit of brown sugar, coconut, oats and whole wheat flour. 45 minutes later, we have a delicious sweet crumble that goes amazingly with vanilla soy ice cream. I was in heaven eating this.

Eggplant Bean Stew Burgers!

I had a brainwave at work while eating leftover stew for lunch (pictured above). It had such great flavors of cumin and fennel that I thought it would taste good mashed up as a burger. As soon as I got home, I got to work.

I had about 3 cups of stew leftover which had gotten nice and thick in the fridge overnight. I put it into a big bowl and mashed it up real well. Then I added about 1/2 cup of ground almonds and sunflower seeds that I whizzed up real quick in the blender. Then about 2 cups of whole wheat bread crumbs, a handful of oats and some spices (chipotle chili powder, mesquite and more cumin, salt, pepper). I shaped them into patties and baked in a 375 F oven for 30 minutes, flipping halfway.

I served them with a topping of harissa mayo (just Vegenaise mixed with harissa, which is a Moroccan chili sauce), grilled onions and mushrooms. YUMMY!

Chia Seed Pudding

Healthy dessert over the weekend. I wanted to bake a sinful treat but decided against it. This helped my sweet craving just fine.

Aubergine Fennel and Bean Stew, Kale Salad.

This is the Aubergine (eggplant) Fennel Bean Stew from The Happy Pear cookbook. I adapted mine a bit. Used kidney beans instead of black beans and I had no pumpkin so I used yellow potatoes instead, otherwise the recipe flavors were the same. I love when eggplants get all silky in a stew like this! I loved the fennel, cumin and cardamom flavors.

Served with whole wheat pita.

Mmm.

More kale salad in a tahini based dressing with chickpeas.

Newly acquired: The Happy Pear Cookbook!

So excited! Just got this book in the mail today. Looking forward to cooking delicious food from it this weekend! I do love their food philosophy and I can sense the passion in what they do. If you don't already know, "The Happy Pear" are Dave and Steve Flynn who own a natural foods store and cafe/restaurant in Greystones, County Wicklow, Ireland. I found out about them via Jamie Oliver's Food Tube on youtube. I was hooked from the first video where they teach us how to make Irish stew with Colcannon. I have made a few of their recipes via their youtube channel and I've been really happy with the delicious results. Super healthy good for you food that is veggie and tasty! Here's a sneak peek for you guys. I highly recommend buying the book if you like what you see. I got mine on Amazon for about $20.