Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpea Quinoa and Arugula Salad with Almonds, Pomegranate and Feta in a Lemony Tahini Dressing

After all of the football snacking in January it was time for some healthier dishes starting with this roasted cauliflower and chickpea quinoa and arugula salad/grain bowl. I start this salad out with a base of quinoa and arugula and I build it up with some meaty roasted cauliflower and chickpeas. From there I add some toasted almond slivers for crunch, pomegranate for both the colour and the juicy bursts of sweetness and some salty feta before finishing it off with plenty of fresh herbs like parsley and mint. Continuing with the Mediterranean theme I went with a simple lemony tahini based dressing and despite it simply consisting of tahini, lemon juice and salt it is so amazingly good! One of the things that I like most about this salad, other than the fact that it tastes amazing, is all of the vibrant colours from the black quinoa to the green arugula to the white cauliflower and finally the red pomegranate and I also thoroughly enjoy all of the contrasting textures. If you are looking for a healthy light meal (or a side dish) you just cannot go wrong with this tasty roasted cauliflower and chickpea quinoa and arugula salad/grain bowl!

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Chocolate Chip Zucchini Greek Yogurt Banana Bread

Zucchini is still everywhere and one really nice way to enjoy some is in a zucchini bread. Although my favourite zucchini bread is a blueberry zucchini bread, every once in a while I like to indulge and go for a dark chocolate chip zucchini bread. Even though I was going with the chocolate chips, I wanted the rest of the zucchini bread to be as healthy as possible so I tweaked my recipe a little, cutting back on the fats and sugars while adding whole wheat flour and using 0% Greek yogurt along with bananas and the zucchini to keep the bread nice and light, moist and tender. One of the best things about a quick bread like this is that it literally only needs about 5-10 minutes of effort and then you just have to patiently wait for it to bake. I like to make a loaf of bread on the weekend and then have a slice for breakfasts during the week and this bread definitely lasts all week and with a few seconds in the microwave it is just as light moist and fluffy as the first day! What a great way to enjoy some zucchini!

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Pumpkin Greek Yogurt Banana Bread

With Halloween coming up I have been thinking about pumpkins a lot more and when I was wondering what to do for breakfasts this week, a pumpkin bread seemed like a great way to go! Although I already have a recipe for a pumpkin bread that I really like I wanted to try to incorporate some of the ideas from the recently successful strawberry Greek yogurt banana bread into it. The Greek yogurt banana bread uses bananas and Greek yogurt to completely replace the oil or butter in an attempt to make it a little healthier while leaving the bread nice and light, fluffy and most importantly, moist. For my pumpkin Greek yogurt banana bread I pretty much took the Greek yogurt banana bread recipe and added pumpkin spices and pumpkin puree while removing some of the bananas to keep the moisture level consistent. In addition I replaced some of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour and since pecan go so well with pumpkin I added some of those as well. The pumpkin Greek yogurt banana bread turned out amazingly well, having one of the best textures that I have ever had in a quick bread! I am looking forward to breakfasts this week especially on Halloween!

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Strawberry Greek Yogurt Banana Bread

During the summer I tend to make a lot of quick breads and that is because there are so many fruits and vegetables that are available that make really good quick breads. One of my favourite summer quick breads has to be the strawberry sour cream bread which I tend to make pretty much every year! This year I was thinking that I might try lightening the recipe up a bit and the first step was to use some Greek yogurt, which is now everywhere in the grocery stores, instead of the sour cream. Next up was to try to reduce or eliminate the butter or oil and that was done by adding three over ripe bananas in addition to the yogurt to keep things nice and moist. Another great way to make quick breads a bit healthier is to use some whole wheat flour in place of regular flour and I normally replace about half of the flour with the whole wheat flour. In the end this Greek yogurt strawberry bread turned out just as good as the original sour cream version and even with the changes it was nice and moist and stayed that way for a few days before it was all gone. What a great way to enjoy a few summer breakfasts!

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