Homemade food was one of my favourite gifts after the baby was born. We had little energy to do much other than take care of the baby, and having a freezer filled with meals we could easily extract was reassuring and comforting. Read the rest of this entry »
You know it is a great soup when I make it two weeks in a row. It is not often that I repeat recipes in such rapid succession, but I only ate 2 servings and had planned to share it with our baby. I thought it was ok for him until I realized I used broth powder with salt in it.
Round two was solidified. Without any vegetable broth. The necessary salt was added after we removed baby P’s portion. Read the rest of this entry »
I am starting to look at food in a different way now that we’re starting to feed our baby. I’ve been using my Instant Pot to cook lots of vegetables before I blitz them into purees. At first, we started with simple, single ingredients. Then we moved to combinations and eventually I started making our own meals without salt and then throwing them into the blender for a new puree. Lentils, rice and rutabaga with some spices sounds like an awesome baby puree!
Turns out he loved it! Win! Read the rest of this entry »
I thought this was going to be a monumental event: my first recipe with celery.
Turns out, I am just forgetful. The blog never forgets, though. While I remember buying some celery while in Houston, it was obviously when I made (at least) the latter recipe.
It has been a while since I flipped through Terry’s Salad Samurai. I know salads are not just for the summer, but I smiled pleasantly as I looked through the chapters aimed at the colder months. I bookmarked the Beet Balls and Fries Salad after reading Nicole’s raving review, and felt now, during the winter, was a perfect time to whip up a salad featuring root vegetables. Read the rest of this entry »
If I do any editing of my photos for the blog, it is usually to remove dust and scratches from my table. However, because I have deemed this a “rustic” soup, perhaps the scratches are apropos. Or, I simply became overwhelmed by the sheer number of scratches that appeared with this photo. Read the rest of this entry »
Yes, I am still chomping away on my cabbage. When the heads of cabbage are this big, I can usually 4 recipes out of one head. I still have plenty of plans for cabbage, but it might take me a while to share them as I space them out on the blog.
It took me a while, but I finally broke out the winter squash. I always feel like I need a few recipes to work through one butternut squash. This one is a winner and I encourage you to try it out.
This Butternut Squash Farinata is basically a variation on my Mediterranean Crustless Chickpea Flour Quiche with winter herbs including thyme and sage speckled with silky orange jewels of butternut squash. Here it is paired with a lovely, albeit optional, Spinach Salad with Farro and a Pomegranate Vinaigrette. Together, it makes such a lovely meal, it is worthy of a special occasion. Read the rest of this entry »
With a bold title, Eat Like You Give a Damn, it seemed fit to share this lovely cookbook around the holidays. With the American Thanksgiving/Thanksliving wrapping up and Hannukah/Christmas season quickly approaching, it should be a season for giving a damn. No?
Eat Like You Give a Damn is a vegan cookbook by Herbivore Clothing’s Michele Schwegmann and Josh Hooten and recently won Vegweb’s Favourite Cookbook of the Year. 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.
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 »
Turns out our furnace problems were solved with a new thermostat. Thank goodness it was such an easy fix. It will be a bit warmer over the next few days which is perfect for us. It will melt the snow and allow us to rake all the leaves we had neglected earlier before winter resumes again later in the week.
Hearty winter fare is back into my kitchen for good and this was a delicious side, and could definitely work if you are looking for a something different for a holiday meal. Brussels sprouts are braised with chickpeas, kale and sun-dried tomatoes along with Italian-inspired seasonings. I thought this was excellent. Highly recommended.
What are you planning to serve for Thanksgiving?
I am sharing this with this month’s Eat Your Greens and Cook Your Books.
Even for me, this recipe seems a bit long and bothersome. However, I implore to try it out.
Let’s break this recipe down so it is not too daunting. Thankfully, even the sweet potato coconut mash topping could stand-alone on a Thanksgiving spread.
First, start with roasting your sweet potatoes. I honestly would have double next time. I would not judge you if the potatoes never made it to the shepherd’s pie.
I started with my favourite recipe for Roasted Sweet Potatoes (Low and Slow) which coaxes and highlights their natural sweetness. I made them the night before so this recipe would work fabulously with leftover roasted sweet potatoes, too. Despite roasting 3 big potatoes, I wanted more volume. I ran out of drinkable non-dairy milks so I grabbed a can of lite coconut milk. Just a touch whipped into the spuds created a silky sweet puree. Inspired by Candle Cafe’s Paradise Casserole’s mash, I added some miso as well. You could stop right here with a delicious side.
Let’s pretend you still want to make the whole shepherd’s pie, though. I used a mix of beans, which along with carrot, mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes had a nice texture. Balsamic vinegar and nutritional yeast added a nice depth and if you have red wine, that would work well here, too. I used a pressure cooker for my lentils, overcooking them slightly, but this was a great way to use them. I also slightly overcooked my butter beans (pressure cooker equilibration issues) but the butter beans were a fantastic counterfoil to the smaller bits. They don’t call them butter beans for nothing. Rancho Gordo’s Florida butter beans were silky smooth, almost like butter! 😛
I tried to have a good sweet potato-mash to filling ratio, with a decent height with the mash. I chose a smaller but high casserole dish, as opposed to a 9×13″ pan. I think it worked out really well. The sweet potato mash makes this a less traditional shepherd’s pie but since it is vegan, can I really claim any authenticity?
I am sharing this with Bookmarked Recipes and My Legume Love Affair.
the taste space 