Kohlrabi Salad for the Comox Kids

I was thrilled when Robin from Comox Valley Kids asked me to guest blog for CVK. This kid-friendly, community blog is always fun to read, they have so many creative ideas and activities for the kids in the valley. Their community is environmentally conscious, modern, and they are rearing their kids with sustainability in mind. What would I not do to someday raise my kids in such a wonderful place?

See and read more about my Kohlrabi Salad with Honey-Lemon Dressing for the Comox Valley Kids.

Indian Grilled Corn

This is how I grew up enjoying corn every summer in India. It is simple and spicy, and the grilling brings out the corn's best flavor. You can find the same style of grilled corn for sale on street corners in India during the peak of its season. This is what I call good street food :) with amazing flavor and a healthy side to it!

Here at Naturopath.ca is my quick method of grilling corn, Indian style. I share my method for grilling corn on an electric stove, if you don't have a traditional or outdoor grill. Oh! what wouldn't I do to have a gas stove! while I do know that living in Seattle, I am using the most efficient and renewable sources of energy :) Hope you get to enjoy the last bit of summer corn this season. Give this Indian Grilled Corn a try, you'll be surprised how simple and tasty it is.

Veggie Burger Number 1

Remember all the carved-out zucchini left over from my recipe for Orzo Stuffed Zucchini? I set it aside and created this yummy, hearty, healthy sandwich: Veggie Burger Number 1.

In my family we love zucchini in every form, and we make many different vegetarian patties for our sandwiches and burgers, but we had never tried making a burger out of zucchini. One day my husband said "Why can't we have a zucchini patty?" He really inspired me and with the recipe I share here, it came out well constructed and super juicy.

One of the reasons most people don't like veggie burgers is that they are often hard as a rock, glued together with faked meats made of over-processed proteins. I stay away from the fake stuff and use real beans and lentils! Potatoes also help bind a patty -- no egg required! -- while zucchini keeps them soft and delicious.

When we visited Portland, Oregon a few months ago, we ate at an amazing restaurant known for using locally sourced produce, The Farm Café. One night we showed up at The Farm all famished at 11 pm. I am suspicious of veggie burgers but theirs sounded great from the menu. After walking across town all day and hitting a couple concerts in the neighborhood that night, I needed something solid! They call it The Farmhouse Veggie-Burger and it's made with eggplants, onions, cheese, & spices. "Veggie burger" is a food that could be made of so many different things. These ingredients made the sandwich moist and delicious and spicy all at once. I filed away the memory to try and reproduce back in Seattle.

My mother is the expert on turning almost any vegetable or lentil into a delicious patty. The woman has magic touch when it comes to food. Taking inspiration from The Farm, my mom, and wanting to make something new and of course delicious for my zucchini-loving, dear husband, I ended up at Veggie Burger Number 1. This should be the first of many patty or burger recipes I share, and it's a great place to start. Since the night I made these, I've tried replacing the zucchini with roasted eggplants and that came out great, too!

About the beans: I make variations of these beans for our regular bean & cheese quesadillas. They are spicy & delicious! You can tone down the spice if you're not a fan of spicy food, but note then I cannot guarantee the taste ;)

It's Labor Day in the USA this weekend, a long weekend most Americans use for one last summer party. Pour a beer or drink of your choice, put a chair out in the lawn (if it's not raining), make a delicious vegetarian burger, and enjoy the weekend outdoors!

I used:
1 can of plain black beans, rinsed and drained
approximately 1.5 cups of finely chopped zucchini -- all the remaining carvings from my Orzo Stuffed Zucchini
1 medium potato, boiled & chopped
1/2 small white onion, finely chopped
1 big garlic clove, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon paprika
fine bread crumbs of your choice (I had some home-made)
salt to taste
olive oil
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon of a Mexican hot sauce, I used the Frontera Habanero Hot Sauce from the Yucatan, or try 1/2 of a finely chopped jalapeño
bread, grilled tomato, and cilantro garlic chutney for serving, and cheese if you prefer

My method:
1. Sauté the onion in 1 teaspoon of oil, till translucent and golden brown.
2. Add the garlic and zucchini, and cook till slightly soft.
3. Add the beans, all the spices including the hot sauce or jalapeño, and let it cook down on medium heat. Zucchini releases a lot of water, cook most of it off.
4. When everything is a bit tender and well cooked, mash it down.
5. Take it off the heat and mash in the boiled potato.
6. Let the combination cool for a few minutes, then form medium-sized patties by hand. If your patties don't hold together well enough, add some bread crumbs to the mixture and try again.
7. Dip the patties in the bread crumbs to cover them all around. The breadcrumbs will stick because of the potato starch.
8. Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet on medium high, & cook 2-4 patties (whatever you fit based on the size of your pan) till they are golden brown on each side.
9. Put them on a paper towel for a minute or two, to absorb any excess oil.
10. Serve on bread of your choice, with extras like lettuce & cheese or a fresh salad.

Pesto Review

This is a little reminder to my readers that there are many wonderful ways to eat pesto! Here at Naturopath.ca I review a few that have I shared in the past year. This summer I tried pesto made with both Thai and purple basil, and it was just as delicious! Just like last year, I made some extra to enjoy in winter!

Orzo Stuffed Zucchini

We eat a lot of zucchini this time of year, or maybe "a lot" is an understatement. If you came to our home right now you would find three varieties of zucchini. It is the peak of the summer squash season and we are lovin it!

I don't think I have mentioned that I learnt to cook zucchini from my Uncle Ashok during my college days. Thanks to him, I had my whole dorm eating zucchini! It was a simple baked dish with an awesome aroma. I'll have to publish that recipe sometime because we still eat it on a regular basis.

My Orzo Stuffed Zucchini are full of orzo pasta with sautéed beets and spinach, then topped with cheese. They pop with rich color and flavor. I think cheese and zucchini are best friends, and you can never go wrong combining them one way or the other.

The only tricky part here is carving out the zucchini. If you scoop too deeply, you can break the shell. On the other hand, if you have fresh, tender zucchini and a grapefruit spoon, you will be all set!

Finally, don't worry that anything will go to waste. The zucchini flesh that you carve out won't go into your compost. Instead, in one of my next posts, I will share what I did with my zucchini carvings -- the next day :)


I used:
1/2 cup cooked orzo (or if you prefer, use rice)
1 lb medium-tender zucchini
1 bunch of fresh spinach, chopped
1 big or a couple small beets, cubed
1 clove of garlic, minced
olive oil
salt, & pepper to taste
a few leaves of fresh greek oregano from my edible garden
a handful of shaved parmesan or any hard, rich cheese

My method:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 F (200 C).
2. Halve and then carve out each zucchini carefully, I suggest with a grapefruit spoon. Don't get too close to the skin or you may puncture them. It is also nice to have a bite of zucchini with your stuffing :) Save the carvings for a later dish, in an air tight container, refrigerated.
3. Brush olive oil on the insides of each zucchini, then bake them for a short time, roughly 5-7 minutes or until the zucchini gets slightly crinkled.
4. While that cooks, quickly sauté the garlic and the beets till they cook. Add the spinach, herbs, and seasoning until almost cooked. Don't overcook as everything will cook more in the oven.
5. When the zucchini shells are ready, first toss the orzo and the veggies together in a bowl. Taste that mixture and adjust the seasoning as needed. If it feels too dry, add a little olive oil and toss.
6. Stuff the zucchini shells with the veggie orzo mixture, then top them with as much cheese as you like. Bake till the cheese and edges look well finished.

A Pop and A Fizz: MPG Turns 1

Mango Power Girl turns one today with a pop and a fizz :) I have met some wonderful people thanks to MPG, and am really thankful for all of you. Your feedback has inspired me to get better and better, so please keep enjoying and thank you! It has been a great first year and I look forward to even better ahead.

It is hot in Seattle, just perfect for another ice pop. Yes, it finally feels like August! This time my ice pops are made of nice, ripe mango, strawberries, and mint julep from our edible garden! When you take a bite out of these ice pops, that wonderful tingly mint cools you off even more.

I had some liquid for the pops left over, so while they were freezing I added alcohol and seltzer for a delicious fizzy drink!

I used:
a sweet, ripe mango
a handful of fresh strawberries
a few mint julep leaves
a squeeze of lime
some simple syrup, a scoop of sorbet, or a spoon of sugar -- whatever you have handy to sweeten

My method:
1. Add the ingredients above in a blender, purée, taste, pour into molds. Freeze for a few hours and enjoy.
2. Pour any remaining mixture in your favorite glass, add some alcohol, seltzer, and cheers!

Snow Peas and Tofu

Here's a quick and delicious summer supper that is also filling and nutritious. I have found some beautiful, tender snow peas at the farmers' market this summer, and this dish lets them be the star. Quickly seared snow peas and tofu, with rice, is easy to make and to eat :)

"Give peas a chance" by reading more about the nutrition and recipe for Snow Peas & Tofu on Naturopath.ca.

Basil Berry Ice Pops

The best blackberries and blueberries of the summer were part of my market-fresh loot from last weekend. Our favorite berry farm, Sidhu Farms, had flat after flat of unbelievable berries, each like the sweetest nectar! We bought way more than we could eat fresh, to freeze some for winter and to experiment with, too. I even walked home with a blue tongue, eating a whole pint along the way. I felt like a kid and meanwhile, every little kid who saw me eating blueberries from a big box, gave me a big smile :)


I was reminded of a little girl we saw once at the Ithaca Farmers' Market, I called her the Blueberry Girl. She was a beautiful little girl with the biggest blue eyes. Her parents brought her to the market every weekend, and this time of year, all you would see her eat was blueberries. It was a delight to watch this kid carry a big bag of blueberries and eat them one berry at a time :)


Seattle's Ballard Sunday Farmers' Market and the Ithaca Farmers' Market are both full of wonderful farmers, wonderful foods, and beautiful children. With a bunch of happy people around you, how can it not make you happy :) A community market is the best definition of Sunday to me!

To bring three great summer flavors together, I made my Basil Berry Ice Pops using my Simple Basil Syrup. I used both blueberries and blackberries, and both were at their best. The combination of sweet and tart was just right with Simple Basil Syrup.

You can vary the measurements according to your tastes or the size of your molds. If you don't have molds, you can use small cups with sticks in them, or just stick toothpicks in an ice cube tray full of the mixture. Basil Berry Ice Cubes would be beautiful in a drink!


I also happened to enjoy and photograph these ice pops in the last two days, which were two of the few (yes, I mean very few!) hottest days in Seattle this year. I am learning a lot about food photography, which has become a passion of mine. I had to eat them on a hot day, but especially then, this is one food to shoot and eat quickly. These were a fun and challenging subject to shoot as they melted more with each shot. Unfortunately, I was forced to eat 4 of these delicious pops in order to get a good shot ;)


I used (for an 8 pop mold):
1/2 pint of blueberries
1/4 pint of blackberries
2 tablespoons of Simple Basil Syrup
a pinch of salt

My Method:
1. Add all the ingredients to your blender. Purée till totally smooth and only small specks of berry skin are seen.
2. Have a taste! Adjust the quantity of the syrup according to what you like and the tartness of the berries. Mine were super sweet, so I did not need any more syrup.
3. Pour the mixture into your ice pop molds. Let them freeze overnight for best results.

To remove the ice pops, place a mold in room temperature water and it will gradually release the ice pop, without melting it too much.

Simple Basil Syrup

During last year's summer basil season, I made and froze a ton of my Basil Pesto. We love having pesto in the middle of the winter! This summer we've already eaten a lot of basil, and I have made more pesto for the winter, but I also decided to do something new with my market fresh basil.

I made a simple basil syrup. Its spicy sweetness is perfect in summery mixed drinks, fruit salads, or drizzled onto any fruit you please. Already I have enjoyed it in drinks, over a bowl of berries, on watermelon, and I've even used it to make ice pops -- more on that in a future post :)

You can make similar syrups with orange, lemon, or lime rinds or use other herbs of your choice. If you have a ton of purple basil, try it and you will get a beautiful magenta color! Sadly, my home-grown purple basil has officially died thanks to neighborhood squirrels. I used my trusted farmers' market organic Italian basil, just $2 per good sized bunch from Billy's Gardens -- who were featured in the film "Good Food"!


I like to keep a simple syrup simple, so later I can twist its flavors around for any use. I made this simple recipe into its own post because of popular demand :)

I used:
1/2 bunch of basil leaves, washed & plucked (about a cup)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water

My Method:
1. Add all the ingredients to a small sauce pan and let them simmer till the sugar is dissolved and the mixture thickens to a syrupy consistency. It should take about 5 minutes.
2. Strain into a jar of your choice and let it cool to room temperature, with the lid open.
3. Once the syrup has cooled off, store it in the fridge.

Strawberries on Biscuits

A simple dessert for your family can still be beautiful. Strawberries on Biscuits are a pretty way to serve up more fresh, healthy berries in the summertime. Having a few different textures keeps the dessert interesting!

Read more in my post Strawberries on Biscuits at Naturopath.ca.