Nope that’s not a mistake in the title of this blog post, I ACTUALLY made healthy poutine the other day and It. Was. Delicious.

One of the secrets to aging gracefully is eating as much real food as possible. If you’ve ever listened to me do a talk about healthy, glowing skin, or participated in a month long skin school challenge, you will know that I truly believe health starts with what we put in our bodies. I encourage people to get rid of sugar, processed food, alcohol, and dairy and gluten. Basically, when I say “eat real food”, I mean “eat things that grow in nature”. 

I am not a chef. Nor do I have any special culinary training. I’m just a simple girl with a passion for health and wellness and good food. I encourage everyone to take any recipes they find on this website, and make them your own! I figure it out as I go!

The secret to eating more whole foods is simply becoming comfortable with healthy substitutions for the not so good food. I anchor into my cravings, ask myself what it is about that “bad” meal I am really wanting to sink my teeth into, and then I search the internet to see if there is a healthy version that exists. Often times, my creations are a culmination of my own ideas that were inspired by something I found online. 

Recently, I was craving poutine. If you are Canadian, you definitely know the hearty, gravy filled, cheesy goodness of this indulgent food. It is just three basic ingredients. Fries, Gravy, and Cheese Curds. Pretty much a heart attack in a bowl. 

I started thinking to myself, could I make this dish healthy?

Well, I make fries at home all the time so I know how to do that in a healthy way. I know how to make healthy gravy so I’ve got that checked off. And I do have a delicious cashew sauce I often make as a cheesy substitution so I would just need to figure out how to make the “curds”. That shouldn’t be too hard!

I looked a few things up online and many of the recipes involved using tapioca. In a pinch maybe I would go for the tapioca but I commit as much as possible to using real food so I got creative. I used finely chopped cauliflower. The end result? A tasty, filling, and decadent poutine that hit the spot.

It wasn’t perfect, and I would probably make a few tweaks next time, but I got asked about it so much that I just had to throw the recipe up for you guys. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

What you’ll need:

Potatoes for the fries-as many as you want!

Cashews, Nutritional Yeast, and salt for the “cheese” sauce

Finely chopped cauliflower, made to look like “curds”

Brown/Green Lentils, Salt, Tamari, Mushroom or Vegetable stock for the gravy

Optional: chia seeds to thicken gravy

Oily Tip: a drop of Doterra black pepper essential oil in the gravy is divine!

FRIES

So you’re going to slice up and roast the potatoes into fries. My fave way to do this is sliced into wedges and then in half lengthwise again. I find this to be a perfect size of fry. Toss them lightly in some avocado or olive oil and salt, and bake them at about 425 until they are golden and crisp (about 25-30 minutes)

GRAVY

To make the gravy, you will simply simmer the lentils (about 1 cup should make more than enough gravy) in 2 cups of stock. Once the lentils are cooked (about 15 minutes), you will put this mixture into your blender and give it a whirl. If you want a more gelatinous texture, you can throw in a teaspoon of chia seeds before blending. 

Once it’s blended, throw the gravy back on top of the stove and simmer. Add a splash of tamari to darken and season and then salt to taste.

CURDS

Saute your cauliflower in a tiny bit of water or stock to soften it up.

CHEESE SAUCE

Rinse out your blender and get it ready for the “cashew cheese” sauce. Add 1 cup cashews, 1 cup water, and 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast. Blend. Add salt to taste. Blend again. 

Once you have the cheese sauce, you will add it to the cauliflower. Add just enough that it coats each cauliflower bit and then save the rest to add to the poutine later if you want it.

Layer everything onto those tasty fries and you’re good to go! ENJOY!!!!!

Did you make this delicious and healthy Poutine? Come hang with me on Facebook and show me a photo and tell me what you think! Want to see more great recipes? Follow me on Instagram - keep an eye on my stories - I love to show you what I’m cooking!

Whether it’s for cooking, skincare, or anything else, I trust and use Doterra Essential Oils. Click here if you would like to get started with the oily life as well!