Food

High-fibre celeriac fits into your days of cleansing, offering an anti-inflammatory alternative to red meat. A spray of pine nut and currant relish adds elegance to your everyday detox.

Tip

Bun cha, a Vietnamese rice noodle dish, is fragrant and comforting while still bright. Instead of pork, lean chicken is used for a cleaner flavour. It’s a flavourful escape from the ordinary at lunch or dinner.

Brown rice is a low-allergen, high-fibre, and nutrient-dense alternative to instant oatmeal. Making a big batch of these morning bowls at the beginning of the week will carry you through a workweek of healthy cleansing. This neutral, grounding base can be made savoury or sweet, for any appetite.

Soup is the ultimate detox food. It incorporates into the body easily, taking a load off of your digestive system while making you feel taken care of. Make a vat of this to sip and snack on when hunger pangs strike, or slurp up a large serving as your main course meal.

Semi-firm, brined halloumi cheese is perfect for outdoor cuisine because it holds its shape when heated on a grill. The exterior becomes crispy while the interior turns velvety. It’s just one reason why this flame-licked salad is destined to become a campfire tale for years to come. If taking up residence at a cottage with an oven, the peppers, halloumi, and pitas can be prepared under the broiler. You can also press the easy button and bring along a jar of roasted red peppers.

Hot stuff: Fire patrol

Slightly sour with a marbled ruby interior and berrylike flesh, blood oranges peak in early spring. In this Silky Chocolate Blood Orange Cheesecake, they’re paired with rich chocolate and creamy cashews for a perfectly sweet, seasonal ending to any spring feast.

Out for blood (oranges)

Forget the heavy, stick-to-your-ribs stews of winter: This zesty and bright spring stew will leave you feeling light and revitalized.

No grain, no gain

This elegant appetizer is a cinch to prepare and showcases spring’s bitter, punchy flavor profile. Pungent endive, puckery grapefruit and earthy walnuts create a unique and sophisticated snack experience. These endive boats come together quickly and are best made right before serving.

Well-balanced flavor and clean carbohydrates make this soup a delicious, functional favorite.  

These bars were designed as a transitional dessert, moving away from conventional options laden with dairy and refined flour. They have developed a devout following among those aiming to phase out nutrient-devoid sweets and progress to healthier options.

Tip: Sticky situation

Delicious and satisfying, this Chocolate Chip French Vanilla Smoothie is a go-to choice for those who love the combination of vanilla and chocolate.

Chef Luptak includes kelp for a little seaside tang in this dish. If you can’t find kelp, use nori instead.

If you think pumpkin is best trotted out twice a year as a pie filling, think again. Chef Luptak prefers using Rouge vif d’Étampes pumpkin, a French heirloom variety, when he makes this salad. “Rouge vif d’Étampes” means “bright red from Étampes”—an old commune in France. These flat pumpkins were a fixture in Paris’s central market in the late 1800s.

Going to ground

Zucchini is a surprisingly chameleon-like vegetable—I find myself using it frozen in morning smoothies, puréed in desserts and now, grated in pizza crust! This zucchini pizza crust is a great way to sneak in extra servings of vegetables, and it is naturally lower in carbohydrates and higher in fiber compared with traditional crusts. This recipe pays homage to a cauliflower crust, which is one of my most popular recipes from my blog. Both of these recipe components, the crust and pea pesto, can be enjoyed on their own, yet when combined, it’s evident they’re meant to be enjoyed together.

As a matter of flax

From Nutrition Stripped: 100 Whole-Food Recipes Made Deliciously Simple © 2016 by McKel Hill. Reprinted with permission by WilliamMorrow Cookbooks, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Can anything this easy be good—and good for you? No need to complicate a delish dish. Topped up with tropical fruits and shaved coconut, it’s comfort in a bowl.

Tips

• Black rice has more protein and fibre than any other rice. Plus, it has the highest amount of antioxidants.
• Try this dish for breakfast. Delicious topped with oranges, sliced banana, and toasted almonds.
• Don’t let saturated fats scare you. Many studies suggest there are good fats necessary for good health. Coconut milk is a saturated fat, but it contains healthy medium-chain triglycerides (MCT), which are fats suggested to benefit weight loss.

Chef Gentile shares a method to make homemade almond milk with equipment found at home in this recipe, but you can use a cold-press juicer instead if you have one. Take care when sweetening with stevia: it is 150 times sweeter than sugar. Excerpted with permission from 21 of Canada’s greatest chefs present Inspired Cooking, benefitting InspireHealth Supportive Cancer Care (Fresh Air Publishing).

Fill this free-form rustic tart with your favourite combination of seasonal fruits, from sweet berries in the spring, juicy stone fruits in the summer, apples, pears, and dates in the fall, to pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and squash in the winter.

Cook’s Tips:

The ultimate raw cheesecake is a snap to make thanks to inherently creamy raw cashews. While this recipe takes a bit of time to create, it’s mostly hands-off. Garnish with sliced fresh strawberries or your favourite fruit. Tip: Make snack-sized cheesecakes in paper-lined muffin tins; they’re perfect for packed lunches or plated desserts.

Whether you build this meal in a bowl or a jar or serve it family style, this raw “noodle” main course will satisfy your need for the punchy tastes of Thai cuisine. Tip: To make Pad Thai even more substantial and add another textural component, top with half an avocado per serving.

The entire carrot, greens and all, makes a flavourful snack served with cucumber coins or celery. Rich in an array of nutrients and healthy fats, this bite will keep you going until your next meal. Tip: Use raw beets and their greens in place of carrots for an earthy magenta alternative.

This quickly blended soup uses fermented miso paste, sweet raw corn, green onions, and zucchini, turning creamy without any dairy whatsoever. A sweet-spicy fruit swirl brings everything together. Tip: Instead of a swirl, top with a raw salsa of diced tomatoes, onion, cilantro, and lime juice.

An almost entirely edible melon bowl holds a rich, vanilla-imbued coconut cream, dukkah (an Egyptian nut and spice sprinkle), and fresh berries. Bursting with flavour, this beauty takes your morning fruit salad to the next level. Tip: Reserve canned coconut liquid for use in a smoothie tomorrow morning.

Packed with antioxidants and a vegetal sweet flavour, matcha is all the rage these days among tea aficionados. Outside of the mug, it can also be a way to add a “wow, look at that” green hue to desserts. This bark is a great way to satisfy crunchy, creamy, and sweet cravings after a day of Earth Day festivities.

Make the grade

Gremolata is one of those items where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The Italian condiment is often made with parsley, but a duo of arugula and mint is a bright, fresh-tasting alternative. It’s an absolute star strewn over buttery scallops, but can also liven up halibut, rainbow trout, or wild salmon.

Great catch