Mellissa’s rhubarb, peach and blueberry crumble, fresh from the oven.

Home › Recipes

Food & Recipes

Simple whole-food cooking

Real food, written out properly. Traditional dishes, plant-forward meals and practical ways to eat well on an ordinary week — each one with the nutrition behind it explained alongside.

19 recipes

Every recipe sits inside a fuller entry — where the food comes from, what it offers nutritionally, and whether a supplement has any place near it.

Mellissa’s rhubarb, peach and blueberry crumble in a baking dish.

Mellissa’s kitchen

Rhubarb, Peach & Blueberry Crumble

Tart rhubarb, ripe peaches and blueberries under a buttery oat topping.

Seasonal One large baking dish · 350°F · 50–60 min View recipe

Illustration: a bowl of creamy orange kabocha squash soup with a coconut milk swirl, pumpkin seeds and cilantro

Illustration Mellissa’s kitchen

Creamy Roasted Kabocha Squash & Coconut Soup

Roasted kabocha, warming spices and coconut milk, with a little mango powder for tang.

Plant-BasedSeasonal Serves 6–8 · 20 min prep · 45 min cook View recipe

Illustration: a stack of thick, soft oatmeal chocolate chip cookies on a cooling rack

Illustration Mellissa’s kitchen

Soft & Chewy Protein Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thick, soft oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with added protein.

High Protein About 20–24 cookies · 350°F · 11–13 min View recipe

Illustration: carrot raisin oatmeal cookies on a parchment-lined baking tray

Illustration Mellissa’s kitchen

Healthy Vegan Carrot-Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

Soft, spiced oatmeal cookies with carrot, raisins, hemp hearts and flax. A double batch.

Plant-BasedHigh Fibre Makes about 40–48 cookies · 350°F · 14–17 min View recipe

Illustration: Napa cabbage kimchi with daikon and spring onion, in a bowl and a jar.

Illustration Korea

Simple napa kimchi

Cabbage, salt, chilli, time — and a few hundred years of knowing exactly how long.

World Food TraditionsFermented One 1L jar · 40 min active · 3–5 days to ferment View recipe

Illustration: A bowl of snow fungus soup with pear, goji berries and jujubes.

Illustration China

Snow fungus, pear and goji

A translucent, almost weightless mushroom, simmered with pear into something between a soup and a dessert.

World Food TraditionsPlant-BasedGluten-Free Serves 4 · 20 min active · 1 hour simmering View recipe

Illustration: A cup of milky masala chai with cardamom, cinnamon and ginger.

Illustration India

Proper stovetop masala chai

Boiled, not steeped — which is the part almost every Western recipe gets wrong.

World Food Traditions 2 cups · 12 minutes View recipe

Illustration Morocco

Harira

The soup that breaks the fast — lentils, chickpeas, tomato and enough herbs to turn it green.

World Food TraditionsPlant-BasedHigh Fibre Serves 6 · 30 min active · 1 hour total View recipe

Illustration: A bottle and glass of rosehip syrup beside fresh rosehips.

Illustration Northern Europe · BC

Rosehip syrup, the low-heat way

One of the richest sources of vitamin C that grows wild in Canada — and it improves after a hard frost.

ForagedSeasonal About 500ml · keeps 3 months refrigerated View recipe

Illustration Europe · naturalised across Canada

Mullein leaf infusion

The tall, felted weed on every roadside — and one of the oldest recorded cough remedies in Europe.

Foraged 1 cup · 10 minutes View recipe

Illustration Wetlands across Canada

Cattail pollen pancakes

Called the supermarket of the swamp — and the entry in this atlas that carries the most serious safety warning.

ForagedSeasonal 8 pancakes · 20 minutes View recipe

Illustration: Chanterelles with garlic and thyme on toasted sourdough.

Illustration British Columbia · Japan

Chanterelles on toast

BC exports thousands of kilos of pine mushrooms to Japan every autumn. Most people here have never eaten one.

ForagedSeasonal Serves 2 · 15 minutes View recipe

Illustration: Finely chopped tomato, cucumber, red onion and parsley salad.

Illustration The Levant

Chopped salad, properly small

Cucumber and tomato cut small, dressed with lemon and oil — eaten at breakfast, which is the interesting part.

World Food TraditionsPlant-BasedGluten-Free Serves 4 · 15 minutes View recipe

Illustration: A bowl of pelmeni with butter, sour cream and dill.

Illustration Siberia · Urals

Pelmeni for the freezer

Made by the hundred, frozen outside in the snow, and eaten all winter. The original convenience food.

World Food TraditionsHigh Protein About 60 dumplings · 2 hours · freezes 3 months View recipe

Illustration: A bowl of miso soup with tofu, wakame and spring onion.

Illustration Japan

Miso soup, done properly

Soybeans, salt and a mould called koji, left alone for anything from three months to three years.

World Food TraditionsFermented Serves 4 · 20 minutes View recipe

Rolled injera beside a wooden board of small bowls of stews and lentils.

Ethiopia · Eritrea

Simplified injera

A sour, spongy, metre-wide flatbread that is simultaneously the plate, the cutlery and the meal.

World Food TraditionsFermentedPlant-BasedGluten-Free 6 flatbreads · 20 min active · 2–3 days fermenting View recipe

Illustration: Dandelion leaf salad with a soft-boiled egg and walnuts, beside roasted dandelion root.

Illustration Everywhere

Roasted dandelion root, and a spring leaf salad

The plant most people spend money removing from their lawn, and one of the first greens of the year.

ForagedSeasonal Root: about 1 cup dried · Salad: serves 2 View recipe

Illustration Temperate worldwide

Nettle soup

It stings until you cook it, and then it is one of the most nutrient-dense greens you can pick for free.

Inspired by Secwépemc foodsForagedSeasonal Serves 4 · 35 minutes View recipe

Illustration: A cup of yarrow tea beside yarrow sprigs and lemon.

Illustration Northern hemisphere

Yarrow tea, as a bitter

The feathery-leaved plant on every dry roadside verge, and the one in this collection I would treat with the most respect.

Foraged 1 small cup · 10 minutes View recipe

Okanagan Lake seen from a grassy bluff, with pine trees along the shoreline.

Cooking is the point

The best nutrition plan is the one you're still following in March.

Recipes are a start. Working out which two or three changes will actually matter for your digestion, your week and your history is the part I'm here for.

Work with me