The Best Skiing Trail Mix

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Today’s post isn’t really a recipe so much as just kind of a thing I do.  I love to go up skiing and near Vancouver we’re absolutely spoiled with wonderful places to go. I had my first day out at Cypress Bowl a week or so. It was what they call a bluebird day: lots of snow and some sunshine and blue skies.

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There was a break in the clouds at one point while I was on the lift and with winter wonderland all around me I saw clear through to a furry-looking green island in the ocean. I badly wanted to snap a photo for you but would certainly have dropped a glove.  And, well, about the snow it was… truth be told… sort of so-so, much like myself in my 20′s: a bit too thin and a little icy. Isn’t it wonderful how open we are to having a good time just because we happen to be doing something different? Talk to me about snow conditions like this in late February. Quite a different story. Quelle powder snob. Anyway, my favourite foodie thing about a ski day, next to my lunchtime glass of wine in the lodge of course, is this very simple trail mix. It goes something like this:

Take a nice, fat caramel-y Medjool date. Remove and discard pit. Insert small square of fine-quality dark chocolate.  Place four or five in a ziplock along with a handful of raw nuts. I prefer almonds. Insert ziplock in pocket of parka. Share at the top between schussing slopes and munching moguls.  What I love about this is it can only really be a winter trail mix as the chocolate melts out of the date in the summer. Really, that’s what I love about skiing too, it’s a way to embrace and enjoy the season rather than just waiting for spring to start. After all, you can only have a bluebird day in the winter. I’m wishing you one today. Happy Wednesday!! xo Jasmine
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Chia Caesar Salad

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Here’s my problem with Caesar salad in three words: the raw egg. Unless you’re going to plough through a whole recipe at one sitting (OK, I have done this but not every time) the raw egg renders the dressing unsaveable. In this version I’ve replaced the raw egg with protein-rich, blood-sugar balancing chia seeds and just to gild the lily replaced some of the olive oil with even more heart/brain/hormone health-promoting flax oil. Feel free to make it using all olive oil with is certainly no slouch in the healthy department thank you very much, or just replace a couple of tablespoons of the olive oil with flax or even hemp if you’re feeling groovy.  Another note about the flax oil, it tends to have a slightly fishy cast so if you’re squeamish about that maybe leave out one of the anchovies.
You’ll notice I’ve left out the croutons.  They just don’t understand my need to get right to the business of the crispy green and white romaine leaves. Feel free to add if you have a better relationship with them. PS Romaine lettuce is one of nature’s richest sources of silica, a beauty mineral that supports our hair, skin, nails and connective tissues. So if you did happen to want to eat a whole head of it with this dressing you’ll have a really good reason to do just that.  Happy Monday. I’ve missed you guys. xo Jasmine

Chia Caesar Salad
Makes about a cup of dressing

Ingredients
1 cup oil, I used 3/4 olive and 1/4 flax
3 cloves of garlic
1tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
11/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp hot sauce
2-3 oil packed anchovy filets
1 tbsp chia seeds
2 tbsp filtered water

Directions
Place chia seeds in a small bowl with the filtered water. Allow to stand for 15-20 minutes until a gel forms. Stir well. Place chia gel in a blender with all ingredients and blend well.  Toss with romaine lettuce leaves and serve with lots of freshly grated parmesan cheese and black pepper. Dressing will keep in the refrigerator for about two weeks.

Brussels Sprout and Beet Pickles

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At a restaurant recently our cheese and charcuterie plate was served with a sweet little pile of pickled Brussels sprouts and a dab of grainy mustard. What a revelation! For starters, they were so unexpected that they woke up my eyes’ palate letting me know that I wasn’t in for just any cheese plate. It’s sort of like when you look at a painting of flowers and take pleasure in the fact that the artist painted particular flowers that you can actually identify as a geranium or nasturtium or whatever. That’s what I liked about  Brussels sprout pickles, they are just so specific.

What I didn’t like about the ones they served me at the restaurant is that they were a little discoloured at the core.

Anyway, I wondered if I added beets to my version of Brussels sprouts pickles if it would just dye the whole mixture magenta thereby disguising any discolouration. I just made a small batch of five jars or so. I’ll have to give them a couple of weeks to colour up before I know whether my plan worked. Either way, they are extremely tasty and I’ll enjoy scooping one up with a hunk of goat gouda. I  doubled the spicy vinegar recipe below and will use the rest as a  base for winter salad vinaigrette.

Brussels Sprouts and Beet Pickles
Adjust the amount of vinegar mix to the amount of produce you have
Makes 6 one cup jars

Ingredients
About 4 cups Brussels sprouts, the smaller the better
About 2 cups beets
2 cups apple cider vinegar
1 cup filtered water
 2 tbsp pickling spice, placed in a tea ball or wrapped in a cheesecloth bag
1 tbsp kosher or pickling salt
3 tbsp dark sugar, I used coconut palm sugar but any brown sugar will do
Peppercorns, for garnishing jars
Whole bay leaves for garnishing jars

Directions
Sterilize and heat jars using your preferred method. Heat new lids in warm but not boiling water.
In a medium saucepan place cider vinegar, salt, sugar and pickling salt and tea ball or cheesecloth bag. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Keep warm.
Boil beets until tender. Leave tap root and top of stem intact in order to prevent bleeding. Allow to cool and then slip the skins off. Cut the root and stem off and slice into bite size pieces. 
Cut Brussels sprouts in half lengthwise, slicing off a little of the tough stem at the base.  
Toss Brussels sprouts and beets together in a bowl. Place a few peppercorns and a bay leaf in each jar. Spoon vegetables into hot jars up till the jar’s lowest thread. Pour in hot vinegar. Carefully wipe lips of jars, top with hot lids, tighten rings fingertip tight. Process in boiling water for 30 minutes. Allow to cool undisturbed for 24 hours. Good for about a year.

Apples ‘n Onions ‘n Eggs on Chick Pea Flour Pancakes

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My friend C**dy gifted me with a nice big sack of apples yesterday. She made me promise not to tell anyone where I got them because an as-yet-unidentified pest got at her apple tree and some of the apples are a teensy bit brown around the core. I kept my promise and am protecting C**dy’s apple shame here but I couldn’t have been happier with my perfectly imperfect apples. See, the ones I’ve been buying at the farmers market are so perfect for eating right now I get my own stab of apple shame every time I go to cook or juice them.  I imagine reproach in every perfectly muted cloudy red-green skin, in every artful fleck.

Sunday morning I blithely fried up a big ‘ol mess of C**dy’s imperfect apples with some onions, spread them over some chickpea flour pancakes that I had been dying to make from Yotam Ottolengi’s Plenty, scattered them with some sharp Grana Padano parmesan and topped each one with a fried over easy egg. It was a delicious and unusual weekend breakfast and a great reminder that nothing is more perfect for cooking than an imperfect apple.


Chick Pea Flour Pancakes or Socca From Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty
By the way, this the best cookbook I bought last year. The recipes are intelligent and the photos heart-stoppingly gorgeous ; it will provide inspiration for years to come.

Ingredients
2 3/4 cups chick pea flour
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups water
2 egg whites
salt and pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 275 degress.
Place chick pea flour, water, olive oil and a little salt and pepper in a large bowl. Mix well with a hand whisk until all ingredients are incorporated.  In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites till they form soft peaks. Gently fold them into the batter.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and brush lightly with oil.

Take a small non-stick frying pan(I use Greenpan brand) that is about 6 inches in diameter. Brush it with a very small amount of olive oil. Put on high heat for a couple of minutes, then reduce heat to medium-high and pour in about a quarter of the socca batter* Pancake should be a scant 1/4 inch thick. After about two minutes air bubbles will appear on the surface and the pancake will have set on its base. Use an offset spatula to release its edges from the pan, then carefully lift and turn it over. Cook for another minute. Transfer to the lined baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the batter. When all the pancakes have been made, place in the oven for 5 minutes.

*This is what the recipe said, personally, I used a little less and wound up with a couple extra pancakes.

Apples n’ Onions N Eggs
Serves 4

Ingredients
4 apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
1 yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced.
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup filtered water
1/3 cup large grated Grana Padano Parmesan cheese
Fresh thyme, for garnish(optional)
big pinch of sea salt
4 eggs
Butter, for frying eggs
Directions
Heat a large heavy saucepan to medium high, add sunflower oil and allow the oil to heat for about a minute and a half. Add onions and cook until they are very soft and beginning to caramelize, about ten minutes. Add cinnamon, stirring briskly for 40 seconds. Add apples, water, salt and maple syrup, scraping any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Allow to cook down stirring frequently until apples are quite soft and most of the liquid has evaporated from the pan.  Spread apple and onion mixture evenly over four chickpea flour pancakes. Scatter Parmesan cheese overtop and place in the oven. Meanwhile fry four eggs either over easy or sunny side up. Pull baking sheets out of oven, cheese should be starting to melt. Top each apple and onion pancake with an egg. Give it a grind of pepper and serve. I liked to dip the leftover edges of my pancake into a little more maple syrup.

The Easiest Possible Raw Plum Crumble

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#torrentialdownpour It rained all weekend. Hard. As much as I’ve been dreading that rain, I’m kind of digging it now that it’s finally arrived rather than just skulking around creating non-commital overcast days. If you’re going to rain, rain! And rain it did. A walk to the drugstore at the corner necessitated towelling off my bangs and a change of pants. Now I’m all nice and cozy with a cup of Everyday Detox tea and a little bowl of raw plum crumble and I’m starting to think this whole winter thing ain’t so bad.
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 Now back to the reason you’re really here: Raw Plum Crumble. This is such a useful recipe to learn. It takes literally moments to prepare, contains no refined sugar and it’s surprisingly delicious and satisfying.
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All you do is put some nuts, raisins and spices in a food processor and pulse. Store it in a jar and when you’re ready to use it, toss any kind of chopped fruit like apples, pears, peaches or blueberries in a little apple or orange juice, top with the cobbler mix, stir and serve.  I like to have a jar on hand when I go camping for easy desserts and sprucing up our oatmeal.
I adapted this recipe from a leaflet I picked up at Whole Foods. The original recipe used hazelnuts and pecans which was of course delicious. I used almonds and walnuts which were equally delicious.

Raw Crumble Topping
Makes about 10 servings but keeps for a few months in a jar

Ingredients
3/4 cup raw, unsalted walnuts or other nuts
3/4 cup raw, unsalted almonds or other nuts
3/4 cup raisins
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla powder(optional)

Directions
Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse oh, say 25 times or until nuts are rough chopped. 
Toss fruit in orange or apple juice, about a tablespoon for one chopped apple or 3-4 chopped plums.
Top with 2-3 tablespoons of Raw Crumble Topping, toss and serve. 

Sesame Oil Self-Massage

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Do you have to try really, really hard not to dread winter? I do. The riotous yet moving beauty of fall leaves, galvanizing crispy air and a joyous reunion with my beloved hole-covered black cashmere sweater provide some superficial distraction however, the  truth remains: Lovely, romantic, autumn is in its death throes and the long cold winter is coming fast.  In theory, I love winter. I love scarves and skiing and I’m the first person to foist holiday headgear such as reindeer antlers and elf hats on my long-suffering friends and insist they accompany me to sing holiday carols in a subway station. In practice though, when winter’s getting going and the nights turn cool and the days start to shorten I am plunged into a reality that is a totally different experience than being summer Jasmine.  When my alarm goes off to morning darkness I just can’t seem to wake up; I drink coffee after coffee but am still sluggish by mid afternoon.  My skin, especially on my shins, is afflicted with dryness that wakes me from a dead sleep with its maddening itch. My mood is a little darker and I feel spacey and anxious. I’m less sharp, less grounded.

Singing carrols in 2008 with my friends Paula and Kaili

In the Ayurvedic tradition the symptoms I’ve relayed above are characteristic of a Vata imbalance. Vata is one of three doshas or ways of being that are the basic framework for how the Ayurveda views human wellness. Each of us has a greater concentration of one of the doshas than the others though that can change through one’s lifetime. Being small, somewhat high-strung and prone to chilliness means I have more Vata tendencies. When I was younger I was more muscular and prone to being hot so that placed me as having a Pitta dosha. Others who have rounder bodies and a greater natural sense of calm would fall into being a more Kapha type.

Like the Vata dosha itself, fall and winter are cool and dry so even if you’re not normally  a Vata type, an abrupt drop in temperature or even too much literally ungrounding air travel can cause a Vata imbalance. When I’m in this state what my energy needs is to be brought right back to earth.

A warm sesame oil massage is a classic Ayurvedic remedy for grounding and reassuring a chilly and spacey body and spirit. I add about a quarter cup of untoasted sesame oil(I find the food grade oil cheaper and fresher than the ones sold for cosmetic purposes) to a heat proof Pyrex ramekin and place it over a tea light candle on my teapot warmer before I hop into the shower. By the time I get out and dry off the temperature is perfect: warm but not hot enough to burn or be in any way unpleasant. An ordinary oil burner will work well also, as will putting the oil in a ban marie. The only thing I don’t recommend is heating the oil in a microwave as this diminishes  the oil’s  healing properties.  Once you hop out of the shower, check and make sure the oil isn’t too hot and then rub it generously and vigorously over your towel-dried body making long strokes towards your heart.  Don’t forget to oil dry areas such as elbows and knees. Pay particular attention to massaging oil into your face, especially in the area between your eyebrows, the location of your third-eye chakra.

Do this often, if you can, twice a day until your spacey-sleepy symptoms disappear and you’re surprised to find yourself enjoying winter. This is not a difficult wellness habit to fit in as the warm oil feels absolutely marvellous and the benefits show up quickly. Within about a week my dry skin and aches and pains head for the hills, increased circulation blooms roses in my pale cheeks and before I know it I’m feeling like it’s time to start digging around the basement for my reindeer antlers. ;)

Wishing you the balance it takes to enjoy all seasons,

xo Jasmine

PS I apologize that I can’t really offer sources for the information in this post. I’ve been reading about Ayurveda since about the 9th grade( you can imagine how much fun that was for my family doctor) so what I’ve offered here is just bits and pieces of what I’ve learned about my own body and what has worked for me. Having said that, the first time I came across Ayurvedic concepts was in Deepak Chopra’s book, Perfect Health looks like he’s done an updated version recently so it’s on my list for a re-read. Dr Vasant Lad is really the big man on the Ayurvedic campus so you may want to check him out if this system interests you. I also quite like Yogi Cameron’s website.


PPS: if you know anyone who has suddenly become sleepy, spacey and anxious since the weather cooled down please pass this post along to them.

Ear Candling 101

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During a period of dietary cleansing it feels appropriate to bring the same energy to other aspects of my life as well. For instance, while I avoid major projects, it’s a great time to de-clutter a shelf or organize a sloppy drawer that’s been bugging me.  I treat myself to lots of dry brushing and a sauna or a steam bath to encourage detoxification and drink lots of dandelion tea and lemon water. Also about once a year I have my ears candled. People ask me about my experience with this quite frequently so I thought I’d share it with you here.

Ear candling was first practiced by the ancient Egyptians.  Ear candles are hollow cones made from muslin and beeswax. The tip is lit and the hot air created inside the cone melts and gently draws earwax out of your ears. Ear wax is a waste product composed mostly of dead skin cells and body oil. Nice, right? Let’s call it EW for short, shall we?  When EW builds up it can be a breeding ground for bacteria and yeast, trap dirt or even create a plug that inhibits hearing.

I realize that this is a controversial practice and it’s not for everyone. There are other ways to remove wax that any mainstream doctor can tell you about but they tend to remove less wax than candling.  Candling is what works best for me partly because I have unusually large ear canals, like, double the size of most peoples’ so I’m constantly bothered by dirt, etc in my ears. If you don’t happen to have giant caves in the side of your head a less dramatic fix may work for you. If you have any abnormalities in your ears or even a nervous feeling about whether candling is right for you, seek advice from your naturopath. Two candling anecdotes for you:

  •  I had one friend who had become so accustomed to having a lot of wax in her ears that having it removed made her dizzy for a couple of days. She says she won’t candle again.
  • I had another friend who found a blood-filled tick inside his candle. I love stuff like that; it’s so entertaining and gross.

Anyway, I’ve been candling for years with only amazing results: less itching in my ears, better hearing, fewer sore throats.  I’ll often hear people recommend doing it every month or every three months. Personally, I can’t imagine wanting it done more than once a year.

To candle: You need to have another person help you. It’s not that complicated though so you don’t necessarily need a professional’s help. Having said that, if you find yourself in Vancouver, I loved having this lady do my candling for me.

Two days before my candling I make an anti-bacterial, anti-fungal oil by soaking a garlic clove in some olive oil. It needs to sit 24-48 hours for the properties of the garlic to infuse the oil. The night before my candling, I pour a little oil in each ear to soften the wax.

When you are ready to candle, lie on your side.  Your helper will place a foil wrapped paper plate with a hole in it over your face to protect it, positioning the hole over your ear and have scissors and a wet cloth handy. They will gently insert the narrow tip of the candle in your ear and light the end of the candle. When the ash on the top of the candle appears, the helper will cut the ash into the wet cloth so it doesn’t fall on you.  About 7 minutes later your candle will run down to the marked point near the tip. Pull the candle out and set aside. It is important to do a second candle in the same ear right away. The first candle really just serves to warm up the wax in the ear and the second candle is what pulls it out. If you don’t do two candles in each ear you run the risk of pulling EW only part way out. This happened to me once and was a bit uncomfortable.
Repeat the two candle process on the other side, then cut open then candles. This is the fun part! I’m probably revealing way too much of myself here but this is, indeed, my idea of a good time. Your candles will be full of ash and dark wax. If candling is right for you, you’ll probably feel really great about getting all that gunk out of there. If you’re lucky, you might even find a tick. ;)

Crazy for Calcium: Sesame Kale Salad

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A lady can never have too many recipes for kale.

I’m on a bit of a fitness kick at the moment. I’ve been doing Tracy Anderson’s dance based mat workout most days of the week. I love it. I’m only using two pound weights but it’s so hard I feel like I’m giving birth with my arms. Then one day a week I’m doing Yogalosphy with Mandy Ingber. A pop culture note about my regime: Tracy is Gwenyth Paltrow’s trainer and Mandy is Jennifer Aniston’s trainer and both of them have had relationships with Brad Pitt. Weird, right? Look, I’m doing hundreds of leg lifts a week, I have to think about something.

I love kale in the springtime. I love kale in the fall…

Anyway, despite the wretched word combo title, the Yogalosphy DVD is really good. Mandy has kind of a cute crackpot sense of humour and leads the video on some gorgeous dock in LA with bright blue sky overhead and birds streaking past which is a great distraction from that fact that this woman really, really hurts me. I’m not sure what it is. I don’t even feel like I’m working that hard when I do the DVD but the next day I feel like I have the flu and it hurts to step off the curb.  Something must be working.  Anyway, because moderate(ha!) exercise can help one absorb calcium I thought I’d supercharge my stores with this satisfying salad. I’m a fan of vegan calcium sources like leafy greens and sesame seeds because I feel I don’t digest dairy well. It doesn’t matter how much of a mineral or vitamin a food contains, if I’m not digesting it, I’m not absorbing it.  Plus, as you know I’ve never met a kale salad I didn’t like(e.g. here and here) and I thought it was about time for a fresh riff. Happy Monday everyone. Do something good for yourself today. xox Jasmine

Sesame Kale Salad
Serves 2

2 Tbsp Sunflower Oil
1 Tbsp raw unhulled tahini  I know this is a pain to find but the nutritional benefits of tahini made with unhealed sesame seeds make it so worth it. In Canada, you can order it here. My US friends can get in on the action here.
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon Bragg’s Liquid Aminos or wheat-free soy sauce
1/4 cup of sesame seeds or hemp seeds
4 cups kale leaves, stems and ribs removed, broken into bite-sized pieces.

Directions
In a small bowl whisk together the sunflower oil, the tahini, the lemon juice, the sesame oil and the Bragg’s or soy sauce. Pour over the kale and massage well into the leaves with clean hands. Toss in the sesame or hemp seeds. Allow to stand for 20 minutes or so so that the kale wilts a bit. Serve and enjoy.

Vegan Indian Creamed Spinach

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Isn’t this a strange little plate? I found it in a rummage store.

It’s cleanse time! Have you ever noticed that with summer comes a lot of sugar? Not that I regret a single mouthful of sour cherry and chocolate gelato or even one of the 300 juice-squirting peaches, but most years by about this time I notice that my skin and I are both a little tired and my sugar cravings have gone from mildly bratty to full-blown obnoxious. For me, that means a cleanse is in order. The timing is perfect: there’s still lots of gorgeous, locally grown produce, I’m not yet struggling with the vastly-reduced light we experience in the wintertime here on the ‘wet’ coast and the slight chill in the air makes me feel energized and alive, rather than just chilly.
This spinach recipe is great for getting started on a cleanse. It’s adapted from a website of meticulously sourced international recipes that I absolutely LOVE called whats4eats.com. The original recipe is great but I wanted mine to be vegan. The coconut milk isn’t on my cleanse(no tropical fruit, no canned foods) so I left it out this time. If you want to do the same, you may want to consider reducing the spices if you’re not used to them. I love them, so I added extra, particularly turmeric to help my joints stop creaking and popping and cayenne as it’s a powerful detoxifyer.  Served over brown rice, this dish always makes me feel luxuriously light yet satisfied and like I’m not missing a thing. Wishing you a clean and delicious week. xo Jasmine

Vegan Indian Creamed Spinach
Serves 4

Ingredients
1 lb spinach, chopped and washed
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 tbsp ginger, finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp virgin coconut oil
2 teaspoons coriander powder
1/3 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/4-1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper(optional)
1-1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup filtered water
1/2 cup coconut milk

Directions
Over a medium-high flame melt coconut oil. Add onions and cook, stirring frequently till onions are translucent. Reduce heat to medium. Add ginger, garlic, salt, coriander powder, turmeric powder and cayenne if you are using it. Stir continuously for 2 minutes. Add water and spinach and bring to a boil. Cover and cook until spinach is wilted, 4-5 minutes. Now If you’re smart you’ll wait until the spinach has cooled before blending it. Needless to say, I’ve never done this. I put on a big apron and my sunglasses to protect my eyes from splatters, tilt the pot to make the spinach deeper and blend it up right in the pot with my hand blender.
Like, I said, you can always cool, blend and re-heat. Either way, stir the coconut milk into the hot spinach and serve. Dee-licous!

Smoky Cashew Enchiladas(Vegan, Natch!)

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I love me an enchilada. Last week I had a craving that would just not quit. We seem to be short on Mexican restaurants here in Vancouver so I was forced to wade out into the enchilada-making frontier.

I decided to make them vegan because generally I find cheese easier to digest if I just eat it with a glass of wine rather than in a complicated dish. Having said that, I had some leftover sauce and tortillas and I made a pan with chicken and chèvre inside and chèvre on top. The chèvre sort of collapsed into the sauce. Not to put too 2004 a point on it but they were OFF. THE. HOOK. I might consider making miniature ones for a party sometime.

Anyway, the smoky cashew ones were delicious also. The main thing I learned about enchiladas, though is that I don’t need to eat them for three days in a row.  The tortillas are of course corn and since I served the enchiladas with a corn salsa I really felt like I had ODd on corn. Though corn isn’t normally a particular trigger for me, it is a common allergen and it just made me feel sort of puffy and sleepy after I had eaten them for more than one meal. So, in short, I will make this recipe again but only when I’m feeding a crowd because I don’t think I need to eat that much corn at more than one meal. I’m going to ixnay the orncay for a good while.

The sauce I used was adapted from this Martha Stewart recipe. I always turn to Martha if I need a recipe for something I’ve never made before. Say what you will about her, she’s never wasted my time or my money: her recipes always work.

So the sauce was good. Is it the last enchilada sauce recipe I will ever need? Likely not.  I think it’s one of those things that could be really, really amazing if you developed the right version. If anyone has a good enchilada sauce recipe they want to share I would LOVE to see it.  I made Martha’s vegetarian by using chicken stock and a substituted white Hungarian peppers and a red pepper for the poblano, seems we’re pretty short on Mexican produce up here as well. Hope you have a wonderful week. If you like this post, by all means, please pass it along! xo Jasmine

Smoky Cashew Enchiladas
Makes 8 Enchiladas

Ingredients
1 recipe enchilada sauce, cooled
8 corn tortillas
1 avocado, sliced and tossed in lime or lemon juice

1/2 cup fresh raw corn kernels(optional)
8 black olives, pitted and chopped(optional)
1 tsp fresh oregano(optional)

2 cups raw, unsalted cashews, soaked at least 2 hours and rinsed well
1 teaspoon hot smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
Juice of one lemon
1 tbsp cider vinegar
2 tbsp filtered water

Directions
To make cashew filling:
In a food processor or blender combine cashews, paprika, salt, lemon juice, cider vinegar and filtered water. Blend until very smooth. 

To assemble enchiladas:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix, corn, olives and fresh oregano together.  Get a medium-sized lasagne pan ready. Dip a tortilla on the sauce, place 3-4 tablespoons of cashew filling on top, roll up and place in the pan. Repeat until the filling is gone. Pour sauce over the finished enchiladas until they are almost covered. Freeze or re-purpose the remaining sauce.  Cover the enchilada pan and bake until sauce bubbles, about half an hour.  Top with sliced avocado and corn and olive mixture if you choose. Serve warm with a green salad.