Hi! Long time no write. As you may have noticed, I have had less time for blogging. With our active BNT (baby not toddler), he doesn’t let me access my computer unless he is asleep. And when he is sleeping, I’d like to relax, too. Or finish chores. Not that I like doing chores, but they need to get done and emptying the dishwasher is also difficult when he is awake and trying to help. Read the rest of this entry »
This summer we’ve been eating a lot of soups and stews. It could have been that we were immune to the hot weather, as we spent the majority of it in an air conditioned NICU. Or, more likely, that we’ve been making up for lost time and stocking our freezer with extra food. We have fully adopted making a second batch of a recipe and freezing half. Soups and stews are great for that. Read the rest of this entry »
One of my favourite and easiest vegetables to freeze are red bell peppers. Last year, we bought a huge bucket of red peppers at the Farmer’s Market and I diligently cut, cored and seeded them before popping them in the deep freezer. Many months later and we are still chomping through them. I purposely baked a bunch of them here.
Even though Lick Your Plate is not a vegan cookbook (you can see my review here), I was intrigued by some of the simple fish recipes. Swapping tofu would be very, very easy and would also benefit from flavourful marinades. While this was a bit more involved than most of my tofu recipes, the marinade and glaze were both excellent. Read the rest of this entry »
It took me three years but I finally bought millet again.
While I have shared a few recipes with it, I loved it most of all popped and found in granola. This time, I was intrigued by Meghan Telpner’s millet crust. Soak and cook millet, then press it into a pie plate. And voila, instant gluten-free, whole food, texture-a-plenty pie crust. Read the rest of this entry »
A few weeks ago, Rob told me he was taking Friday off of work.
He couldn’t bear to have a full 5-day work week.
I finally was able to join the 4-day workweek for the last few weeks as Rob and I headed out for the weekend to see friends and family via a fun roadtrip. Read the rest of this entry »
Despite making quite a few excellent dishes with eggplant, it is not an ingredient I turn to instinctively. It is probably because I almost killed Rob with his asthma when I smoked them in our house. I still think that is the best way to make smoky soft eggplant and with our new BBQ, Rob has lifted the smoky eggplant ban.
Read the rest of this entry »
We finally branched out from our standard veggie burger and grilled vegetable routine.
A delicious routine but still a new routine.
Except, I still grilled some vegetables. They were on a skewer, though.. which makes it somewhat different, right? In this case, they were smothered in a jerk-inspired (but not too spicy) spice rub. I also slathered it on top of some extra-firm tofu.
I used sweet red peppers and a sweet plantain which contrasted with the spice rub incredibly well along with some zucchini, because zucchini grills so very well. In fact, I dare say the plantain was the highlight of the meal. I picked a very black plantain and figured I had nothing to lose, as I wasn’t sure how it would grill, but it was wonderfully sweet and smoky. The only problem? I cut the pieces a bit too small and they were more fragile than the other vegetables. I think Rob lost a few while grilling. I suspect fresh pineapple would be a fabulous substitute for the plantain.
I served this to guests and they raved about it. I hope you like it, too.
Enjoy!
Other Jamaican Jerk inspired recipes shared previously:
Caribbean Soy Curled Sloppy Joes with Creamed Spinach
Jamaican jerk and plantain soup
I am sharing this with Meat Free Mondays, No Waste Challenge and Vegetable Palette for reds.
I don’t know about you guys, but where I am, it is H.O.T. We’ve done pretty well for not using the air conditioner during the days but we closed our windows and turned it on yesterday. To think all my friends in Houston are always 10 degrees hotter (and humid) and positively melting. That is possibly the one thing I do not envy because we loved living in Houston.
Here is a fun pasta dish which adds layers of veggies to your meal. Carrots and cucumber are spiralized into thin noodle shapes and thinly sliced red peppers add some crunch, too. The maple sweetened tofu is unique with a salty/peppery bight and makes this a complete meal. Avocado rounds this out as a fabulous fat and feast for your eyes.
Enjoy!
Recipes from The Sprouted Kitchen Bowl + Spoon spotted elsewhere:
Baked eggs with barley creamed greens and mustardy bread
Cacao nib pavlovas with mixed berries
California quinoa
Chickpea deli salad
Chunky Mediterranean eggplant dip
Coconut sorbet with strawberry rhubarb sauce
Curried sweet potato soup with crispy black lentils
Golden quinoa breakfast bowl
Hippie bowl with tahini citrus miso dressing and spiced sunflower seeds
Kale Caesar salad with cornbread bits
Marrakesh carrot salad
Roasted asparagus salad
Roasted zucchini and quinoa bowls with cilantro pepita pesto
Smoky tortilla soup
Strawberry millet tabbouleh
Tahini kale slaw with roasted tamari portobello bowl
Tropical smoothie bowl
Winter fruit salad in a ginger-lime syrup
I am sharing this with Meat Free Mondays, ExtraVeg and Pasta Please.
Long time no write!
My longest blog hiatus is definitely worthy of a wedding and honeymoon. I know a few were interested in photos and here are a few teasers from our fabulous photographer, Gabe McClintock.
In case the embedded photos don’t work, the original posts are here and here.
After a partial whirlwind through Honduras and Guatemala following our wedding, we returned to Toronto earlier this week. I was hoping to bring a bit of spring and summer back with me, but Toronto is still fairly cold with (freezing) rain this week. Channeling my continuance of all things avocado (albeit of the Mexican variety), I could not resist them at the grocer. I still managed to stock up with lots of vegetables and then threw together this quick and easy salad.
Consider it a chunky avocado dressing, or an avocado scramble salad, the flavours are bright and flexible. The different veggies conferred different textures while enveloped by the creamy lime avocado mash with a hint of cheeziness from the nooch. The black beans help to make this a filling complete meal salad. It was excellent and I recommend eating it at once as the leftovers were not as vibrant. Alternatively, sprinkle with a touch more lime juice when reserving. While not necessary, I added the salad on top of leafy greens. I have a bad habit of buying leafy greens and then not eating them. Here’s to eating more greens. And warmer weather.
What are you wishing for lately?
I am sharing this with Eat Your Greens, No Croutons Required, My Legume Love Affair, The Spice Trail and ExtraVeg.
Woosh! Can you see the steam? One perk of the black background, although it also picks up the dust, too! HA!
Hope you are keeping yourself warm during this recent freeze. It was -30C/-22F overnight with wind chill. It is times like this that you can remind yourself: only a few short months until our wedding/honeymoon in the Caribbean. And then you remind yourself: WHAT ELSE DO I NEED TO DO???? Thankfully my Mom keeps reminding me of all things I don’t know: making the veil, finding something borrowed, etc. While Rob and I take care of the very hard decisions: garifuna dancers vs firedancer (we chose both!!) and where to go for photos (beach vs jungle… vs where are cliffs.. we want cliffs).
In any case, here is another bowl of a warm, vibrant soup/stew. Jamaican jerk inspired with allspice and thyme (and also cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg) with colourful red bell peppers, yellow plantains and chickpeas with a sprinkle of green onions swimming in a fragrant coconut broth. This is not a hot and spicy soup (like most things jerk), so add as much heat as you like.
Are you already longing for the summer?
I am sharing this with Souper Sundays, Recipe Clippings, and Vegetable Palette.
Read the rest of this entry »
Feel like you missed autumn? Summer went straight into winter? Time flies, and sometimes I feel like I missed the peak season for certain fruits and vegetables. I keep missing peach season although we had a few this year. I also missed prime tomato time, perhaps because I was distracted by summer exams. In any case, have no fear. Canned tomatoes are possibly the best way to make sure you have flavourful tomatoes.
Oddly enough, I first encountered Arrabiata sauce while travelling in South Africa. It was a premade sauce that I added to a can of lentils with delicious results. A bit spicy, a lot tomatoey, it worked well with the hearty lentils. However, by the time I returned to Canada, I figured a pasta sauce deserved some pasta.
I made a huge batch of Ricki’s Arrabiata sauce and used it in two non-traditional ways: paired with soba noodles and also paired with zucchini noodles with chickpeas and nutritional yeast. I liked both versions although the zucchini noodles remind me more of the summer than soba noodles.
Next time, I think I will puree the sauce and add a bunch of lentils. Topped with nutritional yeast, it was a great meal, too.
I am sharing this with Pasta Please and Bookmarked Recipes. Read the rest of this entry »
So, it is late August. We moved back to Toronto at the beginning of August. Our stuff from Houston arrived, and our stuff we squirrelled away in my brother’s basement will be arriving this weekend. Unfortunately, one key link remains broken: the internet. We have been waiting for our internet to be installed for 3 weeks now.
I have internet through my cellphone but otherwise, our tap into the internet is dry. As such, I am *still* relying on oldie-but-goodie recipes I photographed earlier, lurking in my drafts, waiting for the right moment to share.
This was a delicious nut pate I made when I had access to fresh herbs in my garden. While I am not a fan of raw pates, I will concede that I wasn’t trying to make a pate with this meal. That is what happens when you over-process nut meat! I was aiming for nut-based Italian sausage crumbles, but with a few too many whirls with the food processor, it turned into a delicious, chunky spread instead.
This is no bland pate, though. First of all, I wanted to lighten up the nut meat by adding some mushrooms. I used oyster mushrooms because they have a very mild flavour and I dare say you couldn’t taste them anyhow. I pulsed the nuts (pecans and Brazil nuts) with a handful of fresh herbs: rosemary, basil, thyme and sage. It was the last-minute addition of sun-dried tomatoes that added not only a great burst of flavour, but also turned my sausage crumbles into a pate.
There are countless ways to enjoy this spread and I originally ate it solo, stuffed into a bell pepper. For leftovers, I smeared it into a collard wrap topped with assorted spiralized or thinly sliced vegetables (zucchini, beet, carrot, cabbage) and a beautiful sprout garnish. I almost didn’t photograph the haphazard (leftover) collard wraps, but Rob urged me to reconsider. They were definitely pretty, too, and mighty tasty.
Enjoy!
I am sharing this with Shaheen’s Mellow Yellow challenge, Virtual Vegan Linky Potluck and Simple and In Season.
We reached critical mass last weekend.
I am not joking.
We ran out of room in the refrigerator.
Who knew greens could take up so much space?
I loaded up at our favourite market. $7 got us heaps of produce along with our $5 case of mangoes. The mangoes and bananas didn’t go into the fridge, but it was hard enough to get my bag of 9 leeks ($1!) and 3 heads of Boston lettuce ($1!) in there.
But then, I went to the potluck. How could I not support buying some freshly picked organic kale grown by school children from a nearby elementary school? And that is how I also ended up with a good 3-4 bunches worth of kale and could barely close my fridge.
Thank goodness Rob hasn’t strangled me just yet.
With prices so low, we don’t feel as guilty if I don’t eat through everything. But I try!!
Instead of tackling all the leeks and my new produce, I decided to dig through my vegetable bins to find the older vegetables. Finish off the snap peas, carrots and bell peppers, and the last of the scraggly cilantro and scallions. For protein, I quick-thawed some edamame.
This combination reminded me of my vegetable buddha salad bowl but since we’re low on miso, I went with a dressing more reminiscent of my (other) raw Asian kale salad with edamame. With so many colourful vegetables and an Asian dressing, how could you go wrong?
Please share with me your favourite kale and leek recipes! Also, for fresh chickpeas since I scored those too! 🙂
PS. This is my submission to Definition Magazine Summer Salad Redux Recipe Contest and this week’s Souper Sundays.
One reason Easter snuck up on me this year is because I do not get a statutory holiday this weekend. In Canada, I usually get Good Friday off. (In Quebec, I think they get the Monday off instead). Here in Texas, nothing. Although I think stores may be closed on Sunday.
The second reason, of course, is that we will not be celebrating it with family or friends.
I have even less knowledge of Passover but it passed my mind as I made this quintessential Arabic-Jewish dish: Shakshouka.
I first encountered shakshouka (also known as shakshuka or chakchoukah) in Morocco. At its roots, it is a mildly spiced tomato dish in which eggs are poached directly in the tomatoes. Like most dishes, every city had its own variation: more vegetables, less vegetables, more spice, less spice.
I was drawn to this version due to the overabundance of vegetables. Tomatoes, bell peppers and cabbage. Shakshouka’s country of origin may lie in Morocco’s neighbouring country of Tunisia, known for its hot and spicy harissa pepper paste. While I have made my own (not-too-spicy) harissa before, I opted for something quasi-similar I had in my kitchen: pat-chi. Aka, kale and collard kimchi spiced with Thai chiles. Aka, related to kimchi with a yaya-twist. A little bit goes a long way to flavour our vegetable ragout.
To keep this vegan, I swapped the eggs (perhaps totally losing the essence of shakshouka) for chickpeas. I loved it. But sadly, upon investigation found that with this swap, this would no longer be appropriate for passover. No chickpeas for Passover. Perhaps you could serve the ragout with some quinoa: now kosher approved for Passover.
Will you be celebrating Easter or Passover this weekend?
Vegan cookbook lovers rejoice! Today is a great day for vegan cookbooks. I counted at least 3 different vegan cookbooks being published today.
For my deluge of cauliflower recipes, I really appreciated Eileen’s comment about food trends. Basically, she said seeing an ingredient repeatedly can actually be quite boring. So in that vein, instead of reviewing the more popular vegan options, I thought I’d share a hidden gem: Meatless All Day.
At first, I was hesitant to review it because it is not a vegan-only cookbook. Instead, there is a mix of vegan and vegetarian options. Vegan options are clearly marked but in the rest of the cookbook, some recipes use eggs and cheese (and sometimes butter, but that is an easily solvable problem). However, the recipes are inventive and even if you are vegan, you can gain inspiration from different combinations of ingredients or the gorgeous photography. I am itching to try the Miso-Glazed Tofu which was inspired by Nobu’s Miso-Glazed Black Cod (which I loved in my pre-vegan days).
In truth, the real reason I wanted to touch bases with the publisher was because I desperately wanted to share this recipe. Because I know my beans recipes, and this was possibly one of my favourite bean dishes to date.
Black beans are simmered with a Farmhouse ale, cumin, tomatoes, a touch of coconut milk and lime juice and if you ask me, the best part was using the roasted hatch chiles. They are a fairly mild chile but add a lot of flavour which melded so well with the rest of this dish. The dish hit all the markers: sweet, salty, spicy and bitter perfectly.
For the beer haters in the audience (that’s me!), you cannot taste the bitter hoppiness (thank goodness!) but it adds a different dimension to the beans. If you are a beer hater and unsure what to make with the rest of your can of beer, may I suggest beer-soaked fries?
A side of roasted plantain chips would be great too. The original recipe was actually a Cuban Black Bean Stew with plantain chips, but I simmered away the stock until it became a caramelized thick coating instead. Delicious. And easier to transport as lunch leftovers, too. Do I know why it is considered Cuban? Not at all..
Thankfully, the publisher allowed me to share the recipe (with my modifications, of course) AND giveaway the cookbook to a reader ANYWHERE in the world! BOOYAH! To be entered in the random draw for the cookbook, please leave a comment below telling me about your favourite meatless meal. The winner will be selected at random on March 15, 2014. Good luck!
PS. This is my submission to this month’s My Legume Love Affair.
the taste space 