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Chicken thighs with zucchini & delicata squash chutney

November 23, 2020 by Ariel Leave a Comment

This is a recipe that was featured on Twitch and you can rewatch the episode in replay if you missed it.

If you’re searching for a quick and easy dish that will for sure please most palates, this is it.  Not only that it’s close to impossible to miss the cooking on chicken thighs, your don’t even need to peel the skin of the squash which will save you loads of time.  Delicata squashes are part of the summer squashes family, pretty much like zucchinis, and they are often available at the grocery all year long depending on where you live.

You will find a great balance between the spices on the chicken and the sweetness of the chutney.  The lemon zest and the fresh mint leaves playing the role of adding extra layers of flavours to bring everything together.  It truly is an amazing dish and I sincerely hope you get to try this recipe.

Cant find a delicata squash at the grocery?  No problem.

Fresh cubes of butternut or acorn squash will be perfect as a replacement.  Just don’t forget to remove the skin and use about a quarter of the squash (because delicata are much smaller in size), prior to grill them.

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Filed Under: Chicken, Proteins, Recipes, Vegetables, Zesty Tagged With: chicken thighs, chutney, Delicata Squash, dinner, easy, lemon juice, lemon zest, Mint, recipe, simple

Korean chicken salad

November 14, 2020 by Ariel Leave a Comment

Full disclaimer: I havent made the Korean fried chicken in this recipe.  I’ve also use pre-made Japanese Wafu dressing which is decently easy to make but the goal of this meal was that it had to be done quick.  Both of these recipes will be done at a later time when I have cracked the code for the perfect fried Korean chicken and  the famous sesame dressing.

So, as mentioned above, it was a leftovers from a takeout of one of my favorite Korean place because sometimes, we have to jazz up the leftovers in our fridge.

At this point, to even call it a recipe is a little far fetch in my book but eh, since the Instagram post got a decent amount of attention, it must be worth posting here as well.  Hope you enjoy this entry and you get inspired to make your own colourful salad.

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Filed Under: Chicken, Proteins, Recipes, Salads, Vegetables Tagged With: cherry tomatoes, Delicata Squash, easy, feta cheese, Japanese waft dressing, Korean fried chicken salad, pink chard, quick, recipe, salad

Roasted carrots with sumac

May 1, 2020 by Ariel 2 Comments

Some nights where I don’t feel like cooking, roasted vegetable become my best friends.

Often, just on their own, they make an amazing lunch but paired with a soft boiled or poached egg, they become a dinner worthy dish.  Today’s recipe is for the sumac dressing which is super simple to make and taught me that old fashion mustard and sumac goes really well together.  Hope you enjoy this very lazy recipe for lazy quarantine days that never seem to end.

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Filed Under: Popular Diets, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian Tagged With: recipe, roasted carrots, roasted vegetables, salad, salad dressing, sumac

Sweet potato & red lentil soup

April 7, 2020 by Ariel Leave a Comment

Instant pots are awesome.  I havent been talking a lot about them just yet but let’s say that mine is being use quite often and helps me eat food that would only be possible with many hours of prep and cooking.  In about one hour, instead of six, I get a perfect meal.  This soup is like the soup you’ll throw in at the last minute but will make you look like you’ve actually done something amazing.

To add the swag to your simple soup, it’s all about the toppings.  I kept it simple, for this one, and topped the soup with the thinly sliced dried peppers that you often find on a juicy bowl of ramens and a few drops of sesame oil and sea salt flakes (Maldon) – to add a fun twist.

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Filed Under: Instant Pot, Legumes, Proteins, Recipes, Soup, Vegetables Tagged With: chicken stock, easy, Instant Pot, recipe, red lentils, soup, sweet potatoes

Turkey stuffed cabbage leaves

April 7, 2020 by Ariel 2 Comments

Definitely in my top ten comfort food of all time.  My grand mother makes some incredible stuffed cabbage leaves but this isn’t her recipe.  This is the feel good recipe I made a few weeks ago when turkey is what was left at the grocery.  What started as fun experiment turned out to be amazing and I ate these bad boys in three days!

My initial goal was to freeze some but they didn’t make it to the freezer.  Looks like I’ll be making a new batch very soon.

I hope you get to try and like this recipe <3

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Filed Under: Comfort Food, Proteins, Recipes, Turkey, Vegetables Tagged With: basil, comfort food, easy, oregano, oyster sauce, paprika, recipe, rice, stuffed cabbage leaves, turkey

Grilled King oyster mushroom salad

June 27, 2019 by Ariel Leave a Comment

Don’t get me wrong, I love making sweets.  There’s something really happy about making something full of sugar because you know most people will be happy to eat it and you’ll get the satisfaction of watching them stuffing their faces with something you made with love.  Now, thing is, we can’t really eat sweets all the time (that’s a tragedy if you ask me) so this recipe is coming just at the right time to balance all the sweetness I’ve published on the blog lately.

King oyster mushrooms are one of my favourites because they are super meaty and they look beautiful in a plate.  Paring them with roasted tomatoes (aka: umami bomb – thank you Ivan Ramen for coining the term) and miso, you’ll quickly understand why I decided to post this recipe on here.

Sooooooo…. this sentence is getting redundant but, I really hope you get too try this quick and easy grilled king oyster salad with miso dressing on days where it’s too hot to eat anything to complexed or when you’re just too lazy to break your head in the kitchen.

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Filed Under: Popular Diets, Recipes, Salads, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian Tagged With: baby spinach, cilantro, coriander, grilled, King Oyster mushroom, miso, rice vinegar, roasted tomatoes, salad, sesame oil, Sesame seeds

My ultimate vegan sandwich

March 26, 2019 by Ariel 1 Comment

This is another amazing way to use the seitan we’ve created the other day.

Lately, it’s my go to sandwich at either breakfast (I ate one a few minutes ago), lunch or dinner when I don’t feel like breaking my head much and want something that will keep me full for hours.  It’s honestly massive and kind of hard to bite through it but, obviously, nothing worth having comes easy in life right? XD

Joke aside, when I get sandwiches this high in restaurants, it makes giggle because there’s no way to look proper while eating this and it becomes a great exercise of “no giving a shit” because nobody looks cute trying open their mouth way too wide to fit an enormous sandwich in it.  You clearly don’t have to make it that big but, like they say…. go big or go home!? XD

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Filed Under: Popular Diets, Proteins, Recipes, seitan, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian Tagged With: easy, grilled vegetable, quick, recipe, sandwich, seitan, simple, vegan, vegetarian

Bagel, veggies, eggs & goat cheese

April 14, 2018 by Ariel 1 Comment

Saturday’s brunch is a real thing and this fuss free recipe is going to be perfect to serve at any time today.  Breakfast, lunch or dinner… isn’t it always the perfect time for beautifully grilled veggies, poached eggs and melted goat cheese?

Yup, I thought so too.

So don’t spend your entire day in the kitchen today (unless you’re an obsessed foodie like me) and eat delicious food that will keep you happy and healthy for your big relaxing day.

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Filed Under: #NoRecipe, Breakfast, Eggs, Proteins, Recipes, Vegetables Tagged With: baby spinach, bell peppers, breakfast, brunch, easy, eggs, lunch, poached, recipe, sesame bagel, sesame oil, tomatoes

Vegetable soup with ginger & lemongrass

February 12, 2018 by Ariel 2 Comments

The inspiration comes from a vegetable soup my grand mother used to make.  She used to cut all the vegetables in super small pieces and I always enjoyed the aesthetic of her presentation.  You could probably chop everything finely by hand but, if you’re in the lazy club (like me), a hand blender or a food processor work wonders.

This recipe isn’t the soup she used to make but, I would like to think it is as good or at least pretty close.

 Delicate, slightly sweet and made with our homemade vegetable broth.  The fennel leaves used as garnish but also as a component in the soup really shine with the star anise in the broth.  The ginger giving it a nice kick and the lemongrass as the last taste hitting your palate.  When it comes time to buy fennel, I always try to get the complete plant with the long rods and a lot of bright green leaves.  Back home, I’ll cut it up in “parts” and keep the leaves in a separate container to use them like any other fresh herbs.  Next time, I’ll probably add a little extra lemongrass because the taste could have been more pungent and, I would encourage you to do the same if you’re a big fan of lemongrass.

Makes three big portions or four smaller ones. Bon appétit!

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Filed Under: Gluten Free, Popular Diets, Recipes, Soup, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian Tagged With: carrots, celery, fennel hair, ginger, green cabbage, healthy, lemongrass, olive oil, recipe, soup, vegan, vegetable, vegetarian

Vegetable Broth

February 10, 2018 by Ariel Leave a Comment

I keep a lot of food scraps in my freezer.

Most of them are vegetables, fresh herbs and egg shells because there’s so much you can do with those and it’s almost a blasphemy to throw them out when you spent your hard earned money buying them.  It also goes with my “no waste” and “everything should be make from scratch” mentality because it’s very rewarding to create basic staple foods instead of buying them at the grocery.  This vegetable broth is a great example of “food recycling” and I really hope you’ll get the chance to try it and make it your own.

Plus, who doesn’t like to know that every pennies spent on veggies will go that much further and you’ll end up having a delicious and personalized broth ready to use in your future creations.

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Filed Under: #FoodieLife, Gluten Free, Popular Diets, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian Tagged With: bay leaves, broth, carrots, celery, cloves, corn husk, corn silk, easy, food recycling, garlic, ginger, green beans, green cabbage, morel mushrooms, onions, scraps, sea salt, shallots, star anise, stock, vegetable, veggies scraps, zucchini

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Photography tale of an urban gardener…

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