potluck dinner

Potluck Stressed? Try Wraps and Skewers

The holidays are filled with fun, family and friends and often sprinkled with a showering of stress for many of us.  And yes potlucks are a great way to take the load off hosts but they can pose a bit of a challenge for those who are contributing.  How much is enough? Vegetarian or meat eaters?  I don’t want my dish to be the only not touched!  Stressful am I right?

So the goal is to present an appetizing dish to the majority (because let’s face it, you won’t please everyone) while not spending the day in the kitchen AND to gently stroke your ego by coming home with an empty tray.

So why not wraps and skewers?  And especially if there will be kids at your function.  They can cover the vegetarian crowd, the meat-eating crowd, the gluten-free crowd and if you really want to impress, you can even satisfy the vegan crowd.

The sky is the limit  for your creative juices when it comes to what will actually go in to your wraps and on to your skewers.  But I’ll share with you what I did this week.

Here is how I put my tray together.

For the wraps I combined tzatziki with feta cheese for the sauce.  The vegetarian wraps were filled with quinoa,  spiralized carrots, and julienne of red pepper, cucumber and red onion. Then topped with pea sprouts.  For the protein in the meat wraps, I replaced the quinoa with chicken.

My skewers were simply pineapple and marinade shrimp, grilled and topped with coconut.  The recipe is below or you can get it here.

Of course presentation is important so I cut my wraps on an angle to show the festive colours and then I simply garnished the tray with arugula.

And there you go.  Your Potluck meal is done.  Time to enjoy the party!

 

wraps and skewers

Pineapple Shrimp Skewers

 

black bean brownies

It’s Holiday Baking Time! Black Bean Brownies Anyone?

Like many, Christmas time for our family is rich with tradition.  Family get togethers, tree cutting and decorating and our annual family skate at Nathan Phillips Square to name a few.  But perhaps most anticipated each year is my Christmas baking.  The same festive treats have been attached to our family Christmas since our kids began experiencing the wonders of the season.  Perhaps the allure lies in the fact that I only bake these squares, cookies and tarts once a year.

When I made my turn on to the nutritionist highway my family adapted well to the changes that I started to implement in to our diets.  There were many successful changes, a few flops and some compromises.  And one ultimatum, Christmas baking was off limits to change.  Fair enough.  Our old faithfuls remain unchanged.  But there was a loophole.  Anything new I wanted to try was fair game.

Soooo this year I made brownies.  Black bean brownies.  And they are dandy.  Gluten free.  Full of fibre and protein.  And they are spanking easy to make.

I didn’t share the ingredient list with the kids because, well you know.  I wanted a fair shot. And I got it and these brownies passed the taste test.

Here is the recipe.  Feel free to improvise.  You can add chocolate chips and/or nuts and even a splash of peppermint or orange to bring them in to the Christmas season.

 

brownieresize

Black Bean Brownies

Ingredients

  • 1 14 oz can Eden Black Beans (rinse them well)
  • 3 eggs
  • 3  TBSP coconut oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3/4 cup cane sugar
  • 1 TBSP Flax Seed

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C.
  2. Grease bottom of an 8 x 8 cooking pan with coconut oil or line with parchment paper.
  3. Throw everything in to a food processor and blend until smooth.
  4. Transfer to you pan and bake 25-30 minutes being careful not to over bake them.
  5. When done let sit for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.
  6. Cut the brownies when they are completely cooled.

Enjoy!

 

 

Cancer Care: Education and Conversation

Hi Everyone,

If you are in the area and would like to come to our Cancer Education and Conversation evening, we welcome your presence.

During the first part of our meetings I will be discussing topics relevant to cancer and cancer care.

The second half will be devoted to conversation and questions.

Our meetings are open to cancer patients and care givers.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

info@cathybiase.com

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