Vegetarian

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wuh) is one of the healthiest foods on the planet, and packed with vitamins, minerals and protein. It’s actually a seed not a grain, but it’s cooked like a grain. The rich nutty taste is perfect in a pilaf, but it’s just as good stirred into any salad. Because of its flavour, ease of cooking and high nutritional value, quinoa is one of the most common foods on my table.

This is one of our all-time favourite dishes, a brightly flavoured bowl of half stew, half soup and all flavour. Its spicy aromas are so tasty and addictive that you’ll never notice it doesn’t include meat. This dish is at its best when it’s served over rice.

This vegetarian version of a classic southern dish omits the traditional ham hock and replaces it with lots of bright Southwestern flavour.

This chili is packed with so much bright Southwestern flavour that you’ll never notice it doesn’t include meat, but you will notice how quickly everyone empties their bowl!

Tofu is a highly nutritious bean curd made from soy milk. It’s an excellent source of protein and very easy to cook with. There are many varieties and many ways to cook it. Pan-frying softer tofu until it resembles scrambled eggs is one of the simplest and tastiest.

Couscous is a grain-like form of pasta made from semolina flour, the same flour used to make pasta. It’s very common throughout the Mediterranean and North Africa. In Morocco it’s often served with dried fruits and nuts and lots of mysterious aromatic spiciness.

This is one of my favourite dishes. I love the bright curried lentil sauce and the soft fragrance of the basmati rice. Together they’re addictively aromatic and one of the all-time great flavour combinations. Best of all, this dish is loaded with healthy goodness!

One of the Holy Grails of vegetarian cooking is a meat-free burger that’s tasty, nutritious, full of protein, easy to make and easy to handle. Without the strong protein structure of meat, or the scientific hijinks of processed burgers, it can be tricky to get vegetarian burgers to hold together. This burger uses the strength of bulgur wheat and will easily become one of your favourites.

This is one of Gabe’s favourite snacks. He loves fruit so we play around in the kitchen and see how many different kinds of citrus fruit, melons, tree fruit, grapes, berries and tropical fruit we can toss into one salad bowl. Our record is 32!

It’s easy to make your own personalized salad dressings. The basic ratio of sour, sweet and oil is easily modified and infinitely variable. This recipe makes enough for several salads because it’s just as easy to make a lot as a little and, once you taste your own dressings, you won’t be able to get enough.

This salad features one of my all-time favourite flavour combination: peppery, nutty arugula leaves tossed with sweet, fragrant strawberries, mellow balsamic and sweet pine nuts. Together these ingredients are far more than the sum of their parts.

This is one of my favourites because its flavours are exotic yet still very familiar and comforting.