We can go simple with a few ingredients, and get a flavorful and nutritious salad. Plant based meals make me happy and in a good mood, as much as running does. So let’s say today I am in an exceptionally wonderful mood. All I ask is to keep eating plants, cooking and running for as long as I can.

I keep forgetting to eat yams, probably because they were not a part of my diet growing up, and I discovered them in the US, so I always buy them, but never use them. I look at them every day, but leave them just where they sit, at the bottom of the refrigerator. Today, I decided to use them one way or another…but definitely the inspiration did not show up instantly. I had to “me creuser les meninges” as we say in French (translated into to rack’s ones brain).

Warm salads are quite a change from the cold ones, and give you a different feeling, you actually feel like you are eating something substantial and nutritious. This salad is absolutely delicious, you need to emphasis on the vinaigrette using Meyer lemon, and the best unrefined olive oil you can find.

For the greens, a friend of mine from Napa who came to visit this weekend, brought a bunch of beautiful black basil she is growing, so I mixed it with the greens I had, and it added such a nice character to this salad. It’s optional, but if you have some fragrant basil, don’t hesitate to use it.

Ingredients for 4

For the salad

• 1 medium size cauliflower, cut in small florets
• 1 yellow bell pepper, cut in small strips, then halved
• 1 small yam, peeled, sliced (1 cm) then each slice cut in quarters
• 1/2 red onion, sliced crosswise
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp curry
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• sald and pepper
• mixed greens + basil

For the vinaigrette

• Olive oil
• zest of one Meyer lemon
• juice of one Meyer lemon
• 1 scallion, chopped
• 1 tsp poppy seeds
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the salad

Mix all ingredients together. Roast in the oven for 20 min at about 400F. When roasted, remove from the oven and add 2 tbs of vinaigrette, more if necessary. Toss well.

Serve on a bed of greens, adding more vinaigrette if desired.

For the vinaigrette

Mix all ingredients together.

Some days you just feel like a particular item no matter what…after a migraine from hell I had yesterday (seriously the worse migraine I had in my whole life), I was thinking to go to the Emergency room so that I could function. It’s over now but I still feel dizzy from yesterday’s nightmare, I am still in the mood for making/baking whatever …”ing” something.

I have no idea why but I woke up with  an orange craving, a migraine  along with a pregnant woman symptoms is not really the best scenario. Anyway, I was supposed to go to a wedding reception and since I am still struggling with the leftover migraine of yesterday, I decided to stay home and rest and play with oranges.

My mom makes this cake but instead of poppy seeds she uses chocolate chips, and it’s really a splendid cake, the chocolate and the orange are a perfect match. Since I had no chocolate chips, and a huge container of poppy seeds, I thought that would work as well…and it did. The cake ended up very light and fluffy. Actually, I was quite happy the way it turned out, and about my humble baking abilities, since I did not put too much thought into it, and that I am not a sweet tooth type of a person, besides everyone who ate it, loved it. I guess sometimes, the public is your best judge.

I am trying to figure out if I should measure in metric system then convert into imperial or vice versa. I really hate the imperial system of ounces and pounds. I still cannot figure it out and I think never will. So for this cake, I used the cups and converted into grams but I think it’s not really accurate in metrics. My scale just died so I used my cup measurer and not certain it’s that accurate, but the cake turned out great. My next purchase will be a new scale…and that will be today.

Ingredients for 6-8 people

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 (64 g) cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 (or 40 g) cup brown sugar
• 1 cup (or about 130 g) white flour
• 1/3 (or 40 g) cup almond meal
• 2 tbs poppy seeds
• 3 tbs heavy cream
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• Zest and juice of 1 orange
• 1 whole orange
• 2 tbs honey
• 1 1/2 tbs orange blossom water
• 1 tsp orange peel powder (optional)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Preparation

In a container mix eggs and sugars, add heavy cream and oil. Mix well. Add orange juice, orange zest, orange peel powder and orange blossom water. Add almond meal, flour and poppy seeds. Mix to obtain a nice and smooth batter. Add baking soda and baking powder. Mix again. Bake in a non-stick pan in a pre-heated oven at 375F for about 30-40 minutes.

For the candied orange, slice an orange crosswise in thin slices. Bring water to a boil, and add orange slices for 3 minutes. Drain them. In a non stick pan add 2 tbs honey and cook orange slices in honey for a few minutes. Then remove and place in a 375F oven until they’re become dry, about 30 minutes.

Sprinkle cake with powdered sugar and place candied oranges on top.