Have you ever tried to find a recipe (especially for a dessert) that is healthy and nutritious, vegan, gluten-free and free of added sugar, all at the same time? I have, and while a few of these recipes exist, I usually end up having to substitute a lot of the ingredients in the recipes that I find because they don’t fit all of these criteria.
I started searching for such recipes after being diagnosed with two (now four!) autoimmune diseases. My passion for food, cooking, baking and healthy eating started way before that, but following my diagnoses I’ve become even more mindful of what I eat. I decided to make major changes to my diet and to generally follow an “anti-inflammatory” diet. With this host of restrictions, I soon realized that creating truly satisfying, tasty and flavourful meals and desserts was no easy feat. It is a challenge that I take on every day and that I am very passionate about.
Since it seems so difficult to find recipes like this, I figured I should share mine with the world and hopefully help other people with similar eating habits. Whether you are vegan, vegetarian, following an anti-inflammatory diet, gluten or lactose intolerant, or just want to eat super healthy, this blog is for you! My goal is to create nutritious meals and desserts from scratch that are packed with wholesome ingredients and flavour, while being compatible with an “anti-inflammatory” diet. Most often, I want my recipes to be:
- Free of added sugar
- Gluten-free
- Vegan (except for fatty fish and fermented milk products like kefir and yogurt)
You can use the tags to find a recipe that fits your needs. In addition to traditional sugar, I consider everything from maple syrup, honey, to coconut sugar as added sugar and avoid them in my recipes. These recipes have helped me tremendously in completely cutting out added sugar from my diet, even though I had quite the addiction, as do many people. A note about gluten: I have nothing against gluten per se, I am not gluten intolerant myself and there isn’t much solid research supporting a gluten-free diet for those that don’t have a celiac disease diagnosis. However, some sources still recommend that people with inflammatory conditions avoid consuming gluten, so I eat gluten-free just in case. This resolution was beneficial, since it brought me to experiment with lots of highly nutritious gluten-free grains.
I absolutely love to discover new and little-known ingredients that enhance the health benefits of my recipes. One of my favourite findings is teff, an ancient grain from Ethiopia, which I have learned to use both for baking and cooking. Discovering clever substitutions to make recipes healthier, such as substituting sugar or maple syrup with date paste, is something I find particularly gratifying.
I am no chef though. I don’t have any formal culinary training and I have no shame using the microwave when it makes sense!
Fun fact: I make my own milk kefir! It is much cheaper than store-bought kefir, and contains a much wider variety of probiotics. You will see kefir featured in some of my recipes, but I usually offer substitutions for those who want to avoid dairy products altogether.
I hope these recipes convey my love of healthful food and help you feel better after every meal.
Enjoy!
Special thanks to Félix Léger for helping me build this website.