Ariel

Soy milk

March 25, 2018 by Ariel Leave a Comment

A great bonus from making your own soy milk is the okara (aka: soy bean pulp) left after draining. It’s a resource most factories will either discard or feed to farm animals but, this protein packed ingredient can be added to baked goods, use to make vegetarian/vegan sausages (yup… that’s going to be for a future recipe) or dried up and reduced in powder to add to almost everything. It is versatile, delicious and using the okara is leaving you with no kitchen waste. Something to think about…

As you will see, the process for making soy milk is very simple. If you wanted to make soy cream, bring back the drained milk on the stove top and let it simmer down to half of it’s original quantity. As the water will evaporate, the mixture will thicken and become a nice and silky cream. A thickening agent can be used to make the process faster, I would recommend tapioca starch for it’s light taste.

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My first experience making Labneh

March 22, 2018 by Ariel Leave a Comment

Most of the time, you’ll find it sold in little balls rolled in spices (like zaatar) and drenched in oil. It is the perfect LOW FAT cream cheese replacement and, you can use it as you would with regular cream cheese.

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Mango & Persimmon Smoothie

March 20, 2018 by Ariel 1 Comment

I bought a pack of rock hard fuyu persimmons, a few days ago, thinking it would take at least a month before they start to softened. Surprisingly enough, they only took a few days leaving me with 10 ripen juicy and custardy persimmons to bake with. One of Max favourite way to start the day is with a fresh smoothie that is both sweet and filling so here we go!

The mango really balance the extreme sweetness of the persimmon while adding a little “zing” to it. The softened oats are there to add a silky texture and give you enough consistence to make it a perfectly filling way to start your day.

Hope you get to try it *^_^*

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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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Sourdough maple sticky buns

February 11, 2018 by Ariel 2 Comments

If you’re nursing a sourdough starter, there’s always this one day where you have too much of it and, before feeding it, you have to discard some. Since I don’t like thinking I’ve been “wasting” all this precious flour and water, this recipe is a delicious way to use your discarded starter.

There’s only one word to describe these… AMAZEBALLS. They are drenched in maple and brown sugar and the bread texture is soft and elastic. I really hope you’ll get a chance to try this recipe because it’s absolutely delicious and really easy to do.

Definitely one of those sweet treat worth cheating on your diet.

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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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Winter gardening…

January 28, 2018 by Ariel 3 Comments

Merged with my obsession with food, comes an other obsession with gardening fresh ingredients to use in my recipes. The real madness began a few years ago, just before I decided to put all my belongings in storage to live a nomadic life. As I’m writing this, my traveling is behind me (for now) and it’s time to grow cute little green babies again!

A few weeks ago, I started planting some of those seeds and here’s what my urban garden looks like today. Nothing’s better than to surround yourself with thriving nature while the outdoor nature is sleeping under a big pile of snow. Spending relaxing minutes looking at the green of their leaves or simply watch them grow while drinking your morning coffee is my definition of a perfect moment.

Currently, many seeds haven’t hatched yet, and a few needed to be re-planted but it’s pretty great start.

The Greek basil is the only plant giving me a little trouble with a few “burnt” or “dried” leave tips which is apparently due to either too much water or not enough. Not sure what happened to it yet but I’m still trying to find the proper watering schedule to avoid further damages.

Stay tuned for many more urban gardening galleries and soon recipes featuring these gorgeous little creatures.

: Goji berries

: Greek Basil

: Sweet marjoram

: Red bell peppers

: Sage

: Yellow chard

: Shishito peppers

Philadelphia Tomato Pizza Pie

July 7, 2017 by Ariel 3 Comments

I had no idea this pizza style, usually eaten at room temperature, came from Philadelphia. Originated from a Sicilian recipe topped with anchovies and cheese, the Philadelphia version is simply garnished with a rich homemade tomato sauce. You might have seen it at your local grocery store or the Italian bakery shop, because these tomato pizza (also known as: church pie, square pizza, red pizza, granny pizza, and red pie) were apparently created to finish left over hoagie dough hence the chewy, “breadish like” texture of the crust.

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Crispy Cheesy Polenta Stuffed Poblano Rings

June 21, 2017 by Ariel 1 Comment

SoCal is a great place to find premium Mexican products and I couldn’t helped myself to stock up on delicious poblano peppers. I used to grow them in my garden (back in the days where I didn’t travel so much because pepper plants are by far my favourite plants to grow) but they never came out as big and spicy as the one you find in California. Apparently, the more sun engorged the pepper plant is, the spicier it’s pepper will be. I learned this, the hard way, the first time buying some, when we briefly lived in San Diego.

Clearly, they aren’t even near as spicy at other peppers like the jalapeños or habaneros but they still got a nice mild kick to them. When ripen to their fullest, they turn to a nice bright red and called Ancho peppers, often ground in to powder.

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My first Ramen noodles

June 19, 2017 by Ariel 5 Comments

After spending a decent part of my day learning about these alkaline noodles and why the use of kansui and/or sodium carbonate is so important in the process, I was eager to apply my new findings to make my own ramen noodles. This is my first attempt, after being inspired by other online at making these delicious noodles. As you’ll be able to tell, it’s very simple to make them and so much more rewarding than buying them at the store… although it’s a little more labor intensive.

Ready for a quick kitchen work out?

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