Colourful Palate

Good morning, everyone! My name’s Leanne. I’m the holistic nutritionist behind Healthful Pursuit, a healthy gluten-free and dairy-free food blog where I share my passion for eating intuitively, discovering myself and leading a balanced lifestyle.

There’s nothing that excites me more than filling my life with whole food meals that I know are going to benefit my health for years to come. For me, health is defined as truly understanding myself and making the proper adjustments to ensure I’m giving my body exactly what it needs.

I’ve found that the easiest way to staying healthy is to get excited about what I’m eating. I enjoy colorful, fun, and simple meals that use fresh ingredients and unique flavor and ingredient combinations, like these recipes:

Beach Bum Lentil Trail Mix

A nut-free trail mix with baked crunchy lentils to maintain the protein profile.

Fudge-Tastic Brownies

Sunflower butter brownies that are vegan, gluten-free, grain-free AND nut-free. Pretty much everyone can enjoy these, no matter their dietary restrictions.

Green Energy Smoothies

Green tea smoothies with loads of cucumber and melon.

When I’m not satisfying my sweet tooth with dried fruit, chocolate and green smoothies, I’m in the kitchen creating my favorite Indian fare.

I recently had the opportunity to go to India for a month, to live at an ashram, stay with a local family on the beach, and tour the streets of Mumbai… all by myself. It was a life changing experience that resulted in me quitting my full time job, living from my heart, and ended up launching me into an affair with Indian food.

In the past, I’d always been overwhelmed with cooking Indian food. The ingredients were hard to find, there were loads of different spices, and the directions were filled with techniques that were completely foreign to me. When I returned home with a fresh take on Indian food, I made it my mission to share just how easy and delicious Indian food can be to prepare and devour. I’ve created recipes like sweet coconut pudding, eggplant curry, tikki masala pizza, and a deliciously easy spinach and potato curry, to name a few. Each one of them more delicious than the next!

Last weekend, I decided to face my aversion to cauliflower and make aloo gobi, potato cauliflower curry. To my surprise, it was pretty good! Throw a little garam masala on anything and I can just about bet I’ll give it a go. This yields 4 cups and serves 2.

Potato and Cauliflower Curry (Aloo Gobi)

1. 1 tbsp grapeseed oil
2. 1/2 cup diced red onion
3. 1 tsp ground coriander
4. 1 tsp ground cumin
5. 1 tsp garam masala
6. 1 tsp chat masala
7. 1 tsp turmeric powder
8. 1/4 cup water
9. 1 tbsp ghee
10. 1 large potato, cut into ½-inch cubes (leave skin on)
11. 1/4 tsp himalayan rock salt
12. 1 tbsp ghee
13. 2 tsp finely chopped garlic
14. 2 tsp chopped fresh ginger
15. 1 tsp cumin seeds
16. 2 cups cauliflower florets, lightly steamed for 3 minutes
17. 2 tbsp fresh cilantro

(Ingredients posted in order as used in recipe)

Heat the oil in a small cast iron frying pan on medium heat. Add onion and cook for 2-3 minutes, until softened.

Add coriander, cumin, garam masala, chat masala, turmeric, and water. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large cast iron frying pan heat the ghee on medium heat. Add potatoes, cover and cook for approximately 8 minutes or until potatoes are crisp-tender.

Add second tablespoon of ghee, garlic, ginger, and cumin seeds. Allow to cook for 1-2 minutes.

Add steamed cauliflower and stir to coat with onion mixture. Cook for 2-3 minutes, until cauliflower is heated through.

Stir in fresh cilantro (that’s if you remember to add it in. I guess I was a bit excited over the gluten-free naan) and serve.

Note: To make vegan, replace ghee with coconut oil or grapeseed oil.

Note: ghee is made from dairy, but all lactose and casein is removed in the clarification process. Use your own personal judgement when opting for a dairy-free diet. If you’ve chosen to omit, use vegan suggestion above.

Now that I’ve chatted your ear off, I guess that just about does it for today.

For more healthy treats and whole food eats, feel free to stop by the blog to say hi, connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, or visit my YouTube channel for healthful tips and advice.

Thanks for having me, Charissa!

Note from Charissa: I first met Leanne when I started blogging…she was one of the first blogs I really loved from the start! I think we both connected partly because we’re both really tall girls! (You have to be tall to understand, haha) I also loved Leanne and her site because whenever I read her posts I just sit there and drool on my keypad. Her recipes and photos are just out of this world! You all NEED to check out her site and make some of her recipes…you will not be disappointed! Thanks SO much for posting Leanne!