Dairy Free Recipes

Matcha Jelly is an earthy twist on Japan's beloved coffee jelly! Made with matcha set to a delicate jiggly wobble and served with a lightly sweetened milk. This chilled treat is light, refreshing and just the right amount of bitter-sweet.

These Breakfast Cookies with Dark Chocolate and Cherries are nutrient-dense and taste like a treat but are made with only wholesome ingredients. They’re naturally sweetened, rich in protein and healthy fats, and made in one bowl. Basically, they taste like a hearty, chewy oatmeal cookie studded with dried cherries and dark chocolate chips - so good for for breakfast or post workout snack.

Blueberry and coffee is one of those flavour combos people smugly hashtag #IYKYK every time they put it together (kk that might be me lol). This BLUEBERRY ICED LATTE is a celebration of that flavour pairing in a tall, delicious, gorgeous glass! I highly recommend topping it with dashes of cinnamon not just for garnish but as a flavour boost because cinnamon intensifies the flavour of blueberries. #IYKYK 😉

This 10-MINUTE CREAM CORN CHICKEN RICE is my take of a popular homestyle Cantonese dish (粟米雞粒飯) but my version takes only 10 minutes to make! You also won't be needing a knife or chopping board, either. Sound good? GOOD.

This SIMPLE KALE AND SAUSAGE PASTA is a perfect back pocket recipe to make on busy weeknights, involving only 6 ingredients but always super tasty. My biggest tips for this dish is using quality sausages and taking the time to brown the tomato paste to max out its umami.

This EASY CHINESE TOMATO EGG NOODLES is a dish you should most definitely have in your weeknight arsenal. It’s so quick and easy to prepare, and satisfying to eat. Summer tomatoes are glorious in this tomato-forward dish. But honestly I make this all year round because it is such a no-fuss meal I can throw together in 15 minutes. We all need more of those, am I right?

Succulent poached shrimp and juicy melons are the stars of this POACHED SHRIMP + MELON SALAD. Dressed deliciously in an easy 5-ingredient vinaigrette of evoo, white balsamic vinegar, fresh lime juice, sugar (you can sub honey) and salt, and finished with addictive Tajín on top, this is a salad you’ll probably want to make all summer long!

Before you think this is yet another hummus recipe, think again. This CONFIT GARLIC HUMMUS WITH GRILLED MUSHROOMS is absolutely unlike any other hummus recipe I’ve seen or tasted. Loads of garlic (two heads) is roasted in oil in the oven to flavour the smooth and creamy hummus. But it’s the mushroom topping that gives this dish its OH-MY-GOD swoon factor. A mix of cremini and shiitake mushrooms are grilled and then marinaded in garlic, lemon juice and peel, thyme, maple syrup and dried cascabel chile.

A Baked Alaska is one of the grandest desserts to exist. It is a show stopper for the holidays or special occasion. I fully support using store-bought ice creams to reduce the work and most of it can be done days in advance and kept in the freezer. The final torching of the meringue makes for a dramatic flourish before serving!

The universe has not given canned Mackerel the love it deserves!

Mackerel has long been one of my go-to sushi choices. But as far as shopping in the canned fish aisle of the grocery store, I’m guilty of reaching for tuna most of the time, with sockeye salmon and sardine being my second and third choices. Why? Habit. Little did I know until now, canned mackerel is equally if not even more habit-forming. Case in point: these super simple and suuuper tasty Tartines with Mackerel and Refried Butter Beans are loved by my family and my foodie adult friends. The refried beans are creamy and savoury, and the mackerel fillets flakey and umami-packed. The parsley salad’s acidic and herbaceous freshness perfectly balances the other rich and creamy elements for a seriously delightful bite!

Is it just me or are people pretty divisive when it comes to crab versus lobster? I feel like they’re usually in one camp or the other, with few who like them equally. It may be the more pedestrian choice but I’ve always been team lobster since I was a child. My husband, on the other hand, is all about the crab. My lobster bias is due in no small part to sheer laziness and my desire to get large juicy morsels of seafood into my mouth with a minimal amount of work. Large lobster tails = chunks of seafood in my mouth with minimal work. There is no equivalent body part on a crab! Eating crab requires patience and finesse to extract the meat from the claws, legs and body. But ahhhhh…enter: LUMP CRAP MEAT. Fresh picked and already cooked, juicy crab meat can be purchased from any seafood monger or the seafood counter of a well-stocked grocery store. This magical food item is ready to be tossed with a shortlist of simple ingredients to create this decadent yet totally approachable recipe, Crab Cakes with Peach Salsa and Tarragon Aioli. Imagine the warm and juicy crab cakes together with the cool creaminess of tarragon aioli and zippy freshness of the peach salsa! This meal will awaken your taste buds, guaranteed.

To say the recent arrival of Teri Turner’s wonderful new cookbook No Crumbs Left, Recipes for Everyday Food Made Marvelous was highly anticipated by her legion of loyal fans (she calls her “crumbles”) would be a massive understatement. I have been following Teri’s instagram for years. She approaches cooking with the ease and confidence that inspires so many of us. “Don’t be afraid to fail; it’s just food” is what Teri frequently says. Don’t those words alone empower you to tackle almost anything in your kitchen?

Are you Team White Sauce or Team Red Sauce? Honestly, I have been Team Red all the way, all my life. BUT, this dreamy creamy Springtime White Lasagna almost made me second guess my lifelong allegiance. Plus, I tricked my whole family into eating THREE whole different kinds of green vegetables in ONE meal because of this luscious, roasted garlic cream sauce. I said roasted garlic cream sauce. I just wanted to make sure you read that. 😉 Can you even imagine??! It’s definitely kinda magical.

All it took was a delicious cookie. The kind that is hearty and chunky with all my favourite things like seeds and cacao nibs and cranberries and goji berries and tahini (aka my favourite butter of all time until infinity). The kind that promises to be hearty, healthy AND delicious, and actually delivers on that promise. It’s no wonder that I fell in love with it and have made the recipe more than half a dozen times. And in falling in love with the cookie, I discovered and also fell a little bit in love (not in a creepy stalker way … in a respectful admiration type of way) with its creators, Sarah Grossman and Tamara Green, the duo behind Living Kitchen Wellness blog and now their debut cookbook, The Living Kitchen Cookbook, Healing Recipes to Support Your During Cancer Treatment and Recovery.

Do you like the sound of juicy chicken with crispy skin, slathered in a zippy sauce? If so, I have this fantastic 6-ingredient, 30 minutes recipe for you. This easy and flavor-packed GINGER APRICOT CHICKEN recipe came about when I craved a tasty dish to appease my bored taste buds shortly after starting my first Whole30 so this recipe provides options for regular preparation or soy-free / gluten-free versions. This recipe has since become one of our family weeknight favourites!

Any morel lovers out there?! I am so pleased to partner with Green Peace Canada on this blog post to raise awareness about the Boreal forest by way of this wildly delicious Cauliflower Gnocchi with Morel Mushrooms recipe! Easy to make two-ingredient cauliflower gnocchi are tossed simply with sauteed morels, shallots and garlic, and finished with chives and a wee drizzle of nice balsamic vinegar to brighten everything up. This is an elevated dish fit for royalty! Or at least your most favorite dinner guests. The ones who bring very nice wine! ;)

SPOILER ALERT: This dairy-free and vegan chocolate mousse involves NO tofu, NO avocado, NO aquafaba and NO praying that the coconut cream will whip up properly. It is luxuriously rich with that dreamy fluffiness of traditional mousse. It is SUBLIME.

When I set out to make a dairy-free and vegan chocolate mousse, I deep-dived Google and Pinterest and came across a multitude of recipes using one of the four aforementioned ingredients: avocado, silken tofu, aquafaba (brine from canned chickpeas) and whipped up coconut cream. But I really, really wanted to create a version that steered clear of all of them. I wanted a recipe that uses more conventional dessert ingredients AND a fool-proof method, while still achieving a mousse that delivers the same intense chocolate flavor with a billowy texture that slightly melts on the tongue. No compromise.

Autumn seems to be everybody’s favorite season, doesn’t it? We have long Winters here and some of the allure of Autumn, for me anyways, is how fleeting it is before it gives way to the bitter cold. Ugh, I hate the cold. Apart from that, there is something almost ineffable about the beauty of Autumn. The cool, crisp air. The scent of earthiness and wood-burning fires. Leaves in the most splendid array of rich, vibrant colors. ASMR-inducing crunch-crunch-crunch of fallen, dry leaves underfoot. And as for taste, we crave the return of comfort foods after a summer of lighter fare. Foods that feel like a cozy hug for a hungry tummy, like this Lobster and Truffle Oil Mac + Cheese with Crunchy Chickpea Crumbs.

A pavlova always makes a grand impression. The combination of juicy peaches, tart-sweet passionfruit, billowy whipped cream and chewy-crisp meringue, is certain to make you swoon.

Years ago, a friend gave me a jar of Rooibos loose leaf tea to try.  She told me it is an non-caffeinated tea with health benefits aplenty.  I later read that Rooibos is high in antioxidants, helps lower high blood pressure, aids in cancer-prevention and digestion health, bone health and more.  Seems like I should be drinking this stuff like water!  Instead, it sat in my pantry untouched for months, or closer to a year.  When it comes to hot beveraging, I can't help but choose an Americano, a matcha latte or for so many years, my top choice was English Breakfast tea with a splash of milk (a reflection of my British-influenced Hong Kong ties). 

Tea in desserts, on the other hand, I dig!  A LOT.  Like these earl grey cookies or the earl grey ice cream I made for pear frangipane tart.  Heaven.  So it is no surprise this Rooibos Chai Panna Cotta Tart with Honeyed Strawberry Rhubarb Compote is totally my jam.  The only surprise is why I didn't think of it sooner.  Everyone I served it to thoroughly enjoyed it too!  Weeell if I'm being honest, everyone except my 4 year old who ate only the tart crust and "saved" the panna cotta part for her mama.  But I can't blame her for loving the crust - it's so dope.

To state that we are a granola-loving family would be an understatement.  I have two Granola Monsters here.  Apart from the year when we were following a modified Paleo diet where grains like oats and quinoa are disallowed, granola is a mainstay here because it is such a healthy and convenient option for breakfast.  Not to mention totally addictive.

This recipe was inspired by our recent trip to Miami, Florida. The hotel we stayed at was beyond gorgeous and the weather was even more so, especially after months living in the tundra known as winter in Toronto.  Guys, it was a real difficult winter.  So our escape down south was well anticipated.  Except it didn't turn out to be the vacation I pictured...

I think there is a certain consensus among those of us who are living through Winter right now that citrus fruits are basically the best part about it.  The other features of our winter - air so cold it hurts any exposed skin, shoveling and de-icing all the things all the time, extremities that are always cold even while INDOORS, plus a few other things that make you swear under your breath - I can live without!    

Even though these sauces are simple in their ingredients as well as their preparation, they really elevate a grain or noodle bowl or salad or seared tofu or roasted veggies (or all of these things together in one meal haha!) to another level.  I find that when eating clean and simple foods, it's kinda all about the sauce to take it from ho-hum to super extra extra yummy.  I very much do believe the sauce is king.  That's why I really wanted to share these two go-to sauces with you.  Plus, I've gotten enough DMs on Instagram whenever I make it on stories that I think it's finally time I deliver!  

WHUT.  Christmas is less than a week away, and the year is done-zo in less than two!  How are you feeling?  Are you getting holiday stress?  I had myself a panic moment a few days ago when Aubrie asked me why there are still no presents under our tree.  I mumbled something about not wanting them to poke around the presents and wreck the wrapping like last year, instead of the truth, which is I was procrastinating the mundane task of wrapping them up.  On the actual gift-buying side, I had 90% of gifts purchased by early December but the last 10% is by no coincidence, the most difficult.  People like my dad, dad-in-law, etc are impossible to buy for.  So I'm still working on that last 10% ... kiiiinda cutting it close, I reckon.  Socks?  Again?

This season, Vitamix came up with this Winter Spice Seasoning of cinnamon sticks, crystallized ginger, cardamom, pink peppercorns, cloves, dried orange peel, salt and brown sugar (tip:  sub coconut sugar for Paleo / refined sugar free version!) blended into a fragrant seasoning of warmth and WINTER MAGIC. 

Vitamix and theFeedfeed partnered up to sponsor this post so that I can bring you this recipe I created using that heavenly seasoning mix.  Can you smell it in your mind's eye...eerrr, nose?  I want to put it in everything, both sweet and savory!

With the start of school and adieu to summer vacation, I begin to accept that Fall is just around the corner.  Every year when I spot the first copper-y dried leaf fallen on the sidewalk, I think of (lower your device's volume if you're at work haha) this old KFC commercial where the woman is screaming and pointing at something. The camera then turns to the sidewalk in front of her, showing a single fallen maple leaf on the ground with the voice-over saying "summer can't last forever".  She then bolts in the other direction.  I feel exactly the same way!  Does anyone else (Canadian) remember this one?  Best.  Commercial.  Ever.  My favorite. :)

Cauliflower has been having quite a moment in the sun.

Have you seen all the clever and creative uses of cauliflower lately?   The popular ones that spring to mind are cauliflower steak, cauliflower pizza crust, cauliflower buffalo 'wings', cauliflower tater tots and even using cauliflower as a smoothie ingredient to provide bulk without the added sugars of bananas and other fruits (can't say I'm sold on that one ... yet).  

So despite it's pale and unexciting appearance, turns out this cruciferous veggie kinda has superpowers!  And cauliflower RICE, for me, is the most super-y-est of them all because of it's ease of preparation (including how much faster it is to cook versus rice), superior nutritional value over rice, it's versatility and above all, how satisfyingly well it stands in for rice.

I am super excited to share this recipe as a follow-up to last week's Everyday Veggie-Loaded Ragu share.  For forever, it was a no-brainer to make a lasagna later the same week I make up a big batch of my go-to ragu.  I literally don't know a single person who doesn't like lasagna, do you?  But when we began limiting dairy and gluten consumption (among other things) at the end of 2016, it seemed our lasagna days were over.  Bye bye.

Or so I thought.