As it heads towards summer, I find myself wanting to spend less and less time in the kitchen, and more time gardening, camping, and going for long walks to my favourite community centre for walks around the lake and time in the pottery studio, – which is my home away from home. 

We have some new recipes on our site, like this cashew chocolate milkshake. Which is the best way to use up any left over bits of chocolate in your double boiler!

Cashew Crema - we have another great recipe using our cashew pieces, which are so easy to work with as they are soft and blend into the creamiest of sauces. I use variations of it for salad dressing, for a topping on my tacos, like a crema, and of course if you make it from a fermented cashew cheez that you might have on hand, by maybe using this recipe here, then, you also get the benefit of all those great for you probiotics. Using the cashew pieces is a great way to save money, and they are truly as delicious as our whole ones. I was reluctant at first to offer them up as I thought the flavour may be compromised with them being broken, but because they are fresh, and of course refrigerated that hasn't been an issue.

The chocolate covered balls pictured here are a classic example of "this sounds like it would be great." Until it wasn't.
We have a very simple, half-baked, don't-use-a-recipe, just-feel-it-out "recipe" on our site for making almond flour, chocolate covered balls; and then I riffed on that recipe (as I often do) using tahini and honey. And I didn't add enough moisture to them and they were the saddest balls ever. That fortunately created the cashew mylkshake above. At least the ball fail taught me a few things. Yes, of course, I ate them. Yes, they WERE dry, but they were still tasty.
The lesson, though, is that I should slow down, pause, and do some testing. Make a small amount, pop it in the freezer, test for consistency, taste, assess. It's also okay to follow your gut. I didn't like the texture of the balls as I was working the mixture together. It tasted good, but it was too dry and the feel in my hands wasn't great. So, a test would have been wise. I tend to be impatient when making things, and so, this was the consequence of that. That's enough writing about my sad balls ...

Nut and Seed Nutrition 
Every time I eat a salad I think WOW! I want more. Fortunately our teenager also agrees with me on this, so we make lots of them. I toss sesame seeds or sunflower seeds on mine all the time, they are a great way to get some of your calcium intake in for the day! Which brings me to the most recent addition to our website, we have a whole new page on the website that has the nutritional breakdown of all of our nuts and seeds. It is like everything in life, a work in progress. Find it here.

Along with the seeds or nuts that you can put on a salad, there is always the possibility of adding other proteins like chick peas, tofu, tempeh, or hard-boiled eggs. There are so many different ways to nourish ourselves in a simple and cost-effective way. 

If like me, you enjoy a good coleslaw type salad with lots of flavour, then this one is for you. It is a riff on one from Ottolenghi.

I have always loved Ottolenghi's recipes, this one of a variation on a red pepper dip, or muhamarra looks great, and uses roasted almonds, but you could sub our delicious sprouted almonds in it.

If you are a granola-for-breakfast person, then I strongly suggest you check out Teri-Ann Carty's WHOLE PAGE devoted to granola. It's amazing.

It is worth checking out her whole site as her recipes are simple and super tasty.

Looking for a delicious crumble that incorporates out wonderful hazelnuts? This one from My New Roots could be it! 

These tahini rye cookes coated with sesame seeds are on my "to make soon" list. Because of course, I love tahini. It is from Green Kitchen Stories, which also has this delicious looking beet soup, with lots of other vegetables topped with a dukkah that I will be making soon, as in later today! 

Dukkah, made with spices and pistachios, and other nuts, often hazelnuts, is a delicious condiment that can go on everything from salads, to soups, to simply being used to dip a piece of bread into along with some olive oil. It is so tasty. Give it a try.

That's all for now. Get outside and smile at a stranger. Make a new friend. xox