A summer recipe in the winter in hopes that warmer weather is just around the corner! Full of earthy eggplant, mellow zucchini and juicy peppers, this ratatouille is rich and flavourful. Feel free to play around with the spices to find your favourite flavour combination. As is surprisingly common here on Sophreakin’ Good, this is more of a method than an exact recipe! View Recipe

One of the very first things I learned how to bake was a lemon poppy seed loaf. It was a terrible mixture of white flour, vegetable oil and sugar, but it never ceased to amaze me how delicious something so simple (though nutritionally useless) could be! View Recipe

This salad is a light, tangy and crunchy culmination of flavours. I tend to add feta cheese (you know, because everything is betta with feta…) but feel free to omit this if you’re avoiding dairy. There are plenty of options for this salad – the main components being bright, juicy grapefruit juxtaposed against cool, crunchy iceberg lettuce. The rest is up to you!

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This seaweed salad is different than the wakame salad at most sushi joints, but it’s delicious in its own way. I usually make this to serve with Asian-inspired meals, such as salmon or stir-fry, but it goes well with just about anything. It has an irresistible crunch factor, and a sweet and sour dressing that really makes all the flavours come together.

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I’m just gonna come right out and say it: make these the day before. Trust me. They’re good right away, but holy fudgy batman do they ever get better after an overnight in the fridge! Made with a handful of deliciously decadent ingredients, these bad boys walk the line between fudge and brownie like they have nothing to lose. They are rich enough for dessert and probably healthy enough for breakfast. I’ll let you make that call. View Recipe

Forget bacon. Well, scratch that – don’t you dare forget bacon. But quality bacon can be hard to find. Usually packed with nitrates and all sorts of other nasty ingredients, it’s no wonder most people’s eyes bug out when I declare that bacon is health food. But quality bacon – without added nitrates, sugars and chemicals – is definitely health food, especially if it comes from happy, pastured pigs. With beautiful amounts of saturated fats, critical for the development of cell membranes, proper hormonal function and energy levels, and an irresistible crispy, crunchy, salty taste, bacon is pretty much king. View Recipe

This plantain bread is reminiscent of a laffa – a type of middle eastern flat bread that is typically a vehicle for shawarma (spiced chicken cooked on a spit), hummus (chickpea spread), labneh (strained yogurt), or other tasty delights. This version, however, is not stretched by hand and baked in a taboun (or clay oven) – it is blended and poured onto a baking sheet! It is simple to make and has just the right amount of chew. View Recipe

There is this Russian candy called sliva v shokolade, which translates to “plum in chocolate”. There are two (sometimes even three) kinds, depending on what colour the wrapper is. One of them has a hazelnut inside, one of them has an almond. If I’m not mistaken, the third kind has a walnut. Realistically, it’s nothing more than a nut inside a prune, covered in chocolate. Why is it that the simplest things are so much better than the sum of their parts? View Recipe