Millet with Butternut Squash & Kale

Just like I promised I'm back with a new recipe this week featuring millet!

If you're new to my "Great Grain's" series you can check out my first post Great Grains: Millet where I've introduced millet as the first grain of the series and given a detailed description of the grain including nutritional benefits, general cooking, uses etc. Otherwise, if you know your grains and seeds well, then I've got a delicious side dish for you.

But first I have to share some exciting news. I have been featured on Spry Living! They are the companion website for Spry magazine, a newspaper-distributed health and wellness publication reaching 9 million households monthly. Their website is a great resource recipes, nutrition, fitness, weight loss, and healthy living. I was contacted about being featured earlier last month, so I've been keeping it under wraps somewhat until now. Something that's hard to do when you're brimming with excitement.

Spry living is currently running a new series of recipes this month for healthy casseroles and my recipe for Baked Ziti and Marinara Sauce is currently being featured as part a part of it. The series is called Health in 30: Healthy Casseroles. Every day for the month of February they post a new casserole dish that is health minded but just as warm, delicious and comforting.

There's that Ziti!

Now getting back to today's recipe...

I've used a little trick for this one. Instead of directly adding herbs (fresh or dried) to the recipe, this time I decided to use a Bouquet Garni, which is French for a little bundle of herbs tied together with string and mainly used in, but not limited to soup, stock, and stews.  Have you ever heard of it or used one before? The bouquet of herbs are cooked with the dish but removed before consuming. Of course there is also the dried version where you take your dried herbs, wrap them up in a piece of cheesecloth and tie it together with a piece of string so they don't spill out. For easiness you can leave one end of the string longer to tie to the handle of the soup pot. When your done you wont have to go fishing for it.

For the millet I used nice little bouquet of fresh thyme.

Fresh, easy, and full of flavour. Just the way I like it.

Millet with Butternut Squash & Kale {Gluten Free, Vegetarian, Vegan}

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(serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves of garlic, passed through a garlic press
• 3 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 cup millet, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups no-salt added chicken or vegetable broth
• 2 cups butternut squash, peeled and diced
• 3 sprigs of fresh thyme, tied together with string or kitchen twine (also know as a Bouquet Garni)
• 2 cups chopped baby kale, washed and stems removed
• sea salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Add the garlic and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the millet and toast for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
4. Add broth, diced squash, and thyme sprigs and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes until the liquid is absorbed and the squash tender.
5. Gently stir in the chopped kale to wilt, which will only take 1-2 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and season with a pinch of salt and pepper if desired.
7. Serve warm.

**Notes** 

• You may also store any leftovers covered in the refrigerator and reheat for lunches and weeknights. This dish can also be served cold. 
• If gluten intolerant, Pacific Foods broths are all certified gluten free.

Happy Valentine's Day!

If you haven't already, make sure you eat something chocolatey! 

Pear and Squash Salad with Clean Balsamic Vinaigrette

Looking to add some kick to your lunch or dinner? This salad will certainly do the trick. I love eating salads for lunch, often with a sprinkle of lemon juice and black pepper, but sometimes the same old same-old gets boring. So what do you do? Kick it up a notch with seasonal produce and homemade clean eating salad dressing. By adding other dimensions using fresh natural ingredients you can make an out of this world salad or meal and still keep things healthy... Keeping YOU clean, lean and full of energy.

So where do you start? How about lettuce? The other day when I was putting this salad together I thought instead of the boring old romain or mixed greens, why not try something different; Boston Lettuce! It's always been one of my favourites. Also know as Bibb lettuce, it's crispy, tender and has such a buttery soft texture. It's also vividly green. Remember the more colours you eat the more nutrition you get. So let's keep that rainbow coming.

Next up seasonal bartlett pears and roasted delicata squash. Seriously, this squash is the bomb! It's shaped similarly to a sweet potato and you can eat the skin. It's yellow in colour and has green stripes. If you have never tried this type of squash before then you're in for a real treat. To roast, first wash then cut it in half and scoop out the seeds. Place each half cut side down and make slices of half moon shapes. Toss with some olive oil, sea salt & pepper and roast at 425*F on a baking sheet for 30 minutes or until tender.

Here is the nutritional profile for 1/2 cup of delicata squash:

And the other stars of this show are toasted omega 3 rich pumpkin seeds and my very own maple balsamic vinaigrette.

Pear and Squash Salad with Clean Balsamic Vinaigrette
(serves 2-4)

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Ingredients:

For the Squash:

• 1 medium delicata squash
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• sea salt & pepper to taste

 For the Salad:

• 1 head of boston lettuce, washed
• 1/3 cup toasted pumpkin seeds
• 1 large bartlett pear, sliced very thinly
• 1/2 cup snow peas, trimmed and halved
• 1/2 cup chopped cucumber
• 1 small chopped green bell pepper
• 3 tbsp dried cranberries
• 4 tbsp maple balsamic vinaigrette (recipe here!!!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Cut squash in half, de-seed and slice each half into half moon pieces. Place in a large bowl and toss with olive oil, salt & pepper. Roast on a baking sheet for 30 minutes until tender, turning half way through roasting.
3. In a large bowl toss the lettuce, cucumber, snow peas, bell pepper, dried cranberries and vinaigrette together. Portion between plates and top with roasted squash, sliced pear, and toasted pumpkin seeds. Enjoy!