I can’t say enough how much I love putting these posts together. Maybe I’m just weird, but the first thing I think of when I try a new food is, I can’t wait to share it on the blog. It’s fun to share stuff with you! After spending my teens and early twenties subsisting on fat-free diet “foods”, it’s a real joy for me to be able to celebrate my love for all kinds of new foods. Plus, putting together these posts gives me a nudge to try new things and bust out of my food ruts.
Without further ado, here are this month’s foods I’m loving lately…
1) Delicata squash
(also known as sweet potato squash)
I don’t know why it took me so long to try Delicata squash, but am I ever glad I did! It has to be one of the easiest squash to prepare. Because the skin is so thin, you can forgo peeling and just eat the (delicious) skin with the flesh. They are also fairly small, making them very easy to slice. Lately, I’ve been roasting them in olive or coconut oil, salt, and a pinch of cinnamon. So good!
2) Lentils & Split Peas
I’m on a big lentil and split pea kick lately. They are just so easy to throw into soups and salads and easily boost protein. I love that they don’t have to be soaked or fussed over like dry beans. Until I get that pressure cooker I’m coveting (cannot. wait.), lentils seem to be my go-to right now.
3) Carrington Farms Organic Coconut Oil from Costco
I was at Costco in Burlington a few weeks ago and I almost died with excitement when I saw that they now sell HUGE 1.5kg/3.3lb tubs of organic cold-pressed coconut oil for $16.99 CAD.
I immediately text this news to my coconut oil obsessed family:
(Don’t mind the creepy dolls, we were doing a little Christmas shopping!)
4) Seasnax
I have to admit – I thought people were crazy when they said they loved these nori seaweed snacks. While I can’t say I loved them at first, the taste grew on me. I love cutting it up and adding it to soups and salads. If I have a big salt craving they usually do the trick. Eric thinks they are absolutely vile, so to each their own…
5) Coconut Nectar Syrup & Coconut Sugar
I recently discovered Raw Coconut Nectar and I must say I am impressed. It’s simply the sap from tapped coconut trees and it’s very high in nutrients. I’ve been using it as a substitute for brown rice syrup in some of my recipes and it binds almost as well. It has a low Glycemic Index rating (35) meaning that it releases into the blood slowly and is less likely to cause blood sugar spikes. The biggest surprise when I tasted the coconut syrup? It doesn’t taste like coconut! At least not to me. It’s very sweet so I find a little bit goes a long way. Eric also loves using coconut sugar in his tea as a swap for refined white sugar and I also enjoy it for baking.
6) Pears
Aren’t pears so beautiful? I love taking pictures of pears and of course eating them this time of year. I’m quite impatient when it comes to waiting for fruit to ripen so whenever I have pears, bananas, or avocados that need ripening I stuff them in a large paper bag and fold the lid to trap some of the gas. It seems to speed things along.
7) Glo Bars up for auction
I’m excited to let you know that Susan is hosting an online auction (starting today!) for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. As you might recall, Susan was diagnosed with lymphoma cancer over a year ago and she is quickly approaching a year in remission. In 5 months, Susan will be travelling to Scotland to run a half marathon for the society’s Team In Training and needs to raise all the money she can.
I’ve donated a box of Glo Bars for this great cause which has a special place in my heart as my grandpa is currently fighting multiple myeloma. The winning bidder will get to select the flavour of their choice and I can also make the bars gluten-free and/or nut-free upon request. This is a rare opportunity to snag a box of Glo Bars since the bakery is closed for the time being!
Please head on over to Susan’s auction and check out all of the amazing prizes up for grabs!
Don’t forget to let me know in the comments below what foods you are loving lately too.
Love the idea of coconut syrup! I will be on the hunt for your favorites!
You just reminded me I bought some coconut oil and haven’t used it yet. Gotta get on that! But now I must try the coconut sugar too!
Now that is some serious coconut oil action! Love the biggie size :)
And delicata and all squash – can’t got wrong!
I havent had coconut nectar in ages, I usually just buy agave nectar b/c it’s cheaper but need to get the coconut nectar again!
I love lentils, especially lentil soup! Yum! The squash made with coconut oil and cinnamon sounds delicious too!
Delicata squash is definitely my favorite squash, I use it to make my own pumpkin purée for various baking, it has the perfect texture and is much less stringy than other squashes.
I love love love these posts… it’s so important to celebrate being able to truly love food. Whenever I find myself starting to count kilojoules or obsess over what I shouldn’t eat, these posts just get me right back on the excited-about-eating track. Thank you so much Angela.
I’m so glad to hear that Amanda! Thank you.
I just bought some delicata squash for the first time. I’m so anxious to cook it up and taste it. I also saw the coconut oil at Costco, next time I’m out I will definitely be grabbing it from there!
I am so into Delicata squash too! Partly because it’s so easy to cut and you don’t have to peel it. :) My absolute favorite recipe recently is Delicata squash slices roasted with miso and curry paste, then tossed with fresh kale and toasted pumpkin seeds. The flavors and textures are amazing! The recipe is here: http://emmycooks.com/2012/11/08/kale-salad-with-miso-roasted-winter-squash/
that looks amazing! Thanks for sharing.
Foods I love lately: 1) I make an awesome sweet potato red lentil curry with spinach that is requested about 2 or times a week :-) 2) Honeycrisp apples 3) salt and vinegar chick peas 4) homemade veggie pizza with a bean and nut yeast sauce
Allison, could you share the recipe for the sweet potatoe red lentil curry with spinach?
Sounds wonderful and I love all the ingredients.
Thanks!
oh and tofu scramble has been a go to lately…with whatever sauteed veggies i have…peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, kale, spinach…and nutritional yeast …served with toast :-)
I am loving coconut everything these days. Coconut oil makes a super hair and skin conditioner, I put it everywhere, especially chapped lips. I also love coconut sap and coconut vinegar.
Oh I love Pears as well! There are soo many different kinds of them and I eat them with everything: On Toast, pure, with/in Oatmeal, on my salad… And I just discovered these Nori Sheets recently too. I think the imitate a fishy flavour so I like to use it to play tricks on meat-eaters ;-)
Another food I’m loving lately is nutritional yeast. Put it in my Alfredo recently and it was delicious!
I have recently met and fallen in love with delicata squash, too! I shared two different ways to make it on my blog. I was loving homemade bread since I found the easiest recipe ever, but my jeans said I need to take a break from that. So good with creamed honey from the farmers’ market, too!
I audibly gasped when I came across that coconut oil in Costco. It was in my cart within seconds.
It was also a great Costco day that day as they were sampling coconut sugar and aged and/or flavoured balsamic vinegars. Love.
Lately I’ve been digging beancurd noodles. I pick them up at T&T and they’re essentially extra firm tofu (without the moisture) cut into long thin noodles. They’re fabulous.
Also been loving on the combination of kabocha/butternut squash + fresh cranberries + warm spices + tofu. All sautéed together in coconut oil + cilantro + a sauce of a molasses-y BBQ sauce mixed with hummus. Heavenly.
I would love to have that recipe! I am always looking for something new to try.
i have been loving spaghetti squash. i’ve been waiting so patiently for farmers market day (last one of the season!) to get more. i never would have tried it if i didn’t read your post on how to roast them! i love to add them to pasta with ur creamy avocado sauce, into my soups, on top of chili… i will have to try delicata squash, you haven’t steered me wrong yet. i also love coconut sugar, haven’t tried the nectar yet. i have a cute necklace of a pear with a bite taken out of it, pears are my fav.
Im new to your site, my nick name is glo too and Im interested in your glo bars ,your knowledge of coconut products etc do you have a daily page I can subscribe to?
Lovely to meet you :) There are a couple differents ways to subscribe to my blog – via RSS or emails. You can find both options at the top right corner of my blog (the purple icons) Hope this helps
My boss bought me that gigantic jar of coconut oil over the weekend. I’m gonna have that sucker for YEARS! I keep a jar of coconut oil on my desk at work to use as hand lotion, but I rarely use oil when I cook. I’ll have to get really inventive. :)
I’m glad that you’ve discovered the wonders of coconut nectar and sugar! I use them to replace agave and cane sugar in various baking recipes and have not been disappointed yet.
Quick tip on the Sea Snax: I visited my local Korean market recently and found packages of very similar seaweed for MUCH cheaper. They sell both big sheets and the mini snack packs.
I also just bought that huge coconut oil from Costco. Have you tried it yet? After I bought it I realized it wasn’t extra virgin and I’m worried it won’t taste like coconut! Let me know what you think if you have opened your already.
Love those lentils on your list Angela!
So jealous that your Costco carries coconut oil! Ours doesn’t, nor does it carry Greek yogurt. In fact, the Fukuoka Costco lacks a lot of things the American ones typically have… but it’s certainly better than having no Costco at all! There is literally no where else in Japan that I can buy almonds and oatmeal at a reasonable price. Bless Costco. ♥
I’m totally loving kabocha right now. ^^ Autumn and winter are the seasons for pumpkin, of course, but lacking that, Japan has kabocha squash instead. And it is de-LI-cious. Trying it out in different ways is the best part–turning them into “fries,” simmering in shoyu and dashi with chicken, baking, blending into soup, putting them in cookies… the possibilities are endless!