Zesty & Spicy

If you like food, we'll get along *^_^*

Sweet potato & red lentil soup

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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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Vegetable soup with ginger & lemongrass

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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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My first Ramen noodles

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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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The Green Soup

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This is a nice example of simple who met amazing.

For you, an humble green soup made with fresh, seasonal ingredients and a dash of love.  I hope the creamy taste and texture of the end result will comfort you while you’re cuddled up in a warm blanket looking outside at the colour of the leaves dancing in front of your eyes.

Fall, a time for cuddles and great soups.

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Quick & Easy Kimchi Soup + Tempeh & Lentils Bowl

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Today’s post is a 2 in 1…

Just the kimchi soup on it’s own is already delicious but once it a while I use to it make something a little bit more filling like this grilled smokey tempeh with lentils and rice filling bowl.

Two very simple, fully vegan recipes that can save you some precious time in the kitchen and keep you healthy and happy *^_^*

Bon Appétit!

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Healthy Chicken & Carrot Bowl

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I wasn’t sure how to call this one.  Is it a soup? Is it a bowl?

Since I didn’t make a “bowl” category, this went in the soup section.  Searching for something easy to make, filling, healthy and super delicious?  …Or, like me, you just came across a BIG bag of carrot at the grocery and you need to use it asap?

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The recipe calls for carrot “noodles”… to make them, use your hand grater and like if you were to remove the first layer of skin, continue grating more and more of your carrot till you arrive at the core.  Personally, I don’t use the core for “noodles” because the taste is a little too strong in my opinion but by all mean, save the planet, don’t be picky like me and use the whole thing.  *^_^*

Hope you enjoy this recipe,

Bon Appétit! 🙂

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Easy & Humble Kale Soup

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“Eat your greens or you wont have any desert!”

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…probably a sentence everybody heard a few times during their childhood.  I don’t remember being over difficult to feed as a child, beside the terrifying grilled white cod filet with tomatoes my mom used to make (I still have nightmares about it, true story), so I was happy (most of the time) to eat my greens.

Kale was introduce to my diet much later in life.  I do not recall my mom or dad buying any but, back then, the trend was more to eat spinach and I clearly remember the creamed spinach side dish my mom used to make.  Let me tell you… THAT was insanely delicious and now that I think about it, I’ll have to ask her for the recipe next time I see her.

You could probably make this soup with baby spinach as well.  Why do I say baby and no regular spinach?  Only because I’m thinking the bitterness of the fully grown spinach might be a little bit too overpowering for the humble and light taste of this soup.  While you can still try, I’m thinking that by trying to cover the bitterness, you might feel the push to add more salt and we all know by now that salt is a big no no for our dear arteries.

You can rock this soup in about 1:30 maximum and that’s with the prep included.  For those busy and lazy week nights, a comforting soup made with real and a small amount of ingredients is always welcome.

Bon Appetit!

Easy & Humble Kale Soup
 
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Ingredients
  • 3 garlic cloves minced
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • ¾ to 1 cup of finely chopped (about 1 medium/big one)
  • 1½ cup of finely chopped carrot
  • 6 cup of chicken broth (no salt)
  • 4 cup of finely chopped kale leaves
  • ½ teaspoon of solar salt **
  • ¼ teaspoon of basil pepper ***
  • 1 tablespoon of low sodium soy sauce
  • ** Solar salt is something I discovered when I made my first batch of kimchi. It's basically aged sea salt and really has a nice and distinctive taste. You can obviously replace this salt by regular sea salt or table salt but I would much prefer sea salt just because of the yummy flavors.
  • *** Basil pepper is a spice blend of 3 types of peppercorns and basil leaves that I made last year and that will be on the blog this week but feel free to replace this with regular pepper. Like the salt measuring, feel free to tweak the quantity to your liking 🙂
Instructions
  1. - In a medium sauce pan, on the stove top at MEDIUM/HIGH heat. Start by gently grilling the freshly cut garlic and onion with the olive oil for 2-3 minutes.
  2. - Stir in the carrot, mix well and add the broth. Bring everything back to a gently broil, lower the heat and add the rest of the ingredients
  3. - Let simmer at low heat for 1 hour and serve!

Paleo Hubbard Squash Soup

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Ok, I went a little bit more artistic with these images…  I thought the contrast of the small plate presenting a soup could be interesting and leave me a fun canvas to add my topping (here I choose a coriander and yellow hot pepper chutney with a crispy nori sheet).  I love the art of Food styling.  It’s an art that I do not master yet but every photo shoots is a fun challenge and now that I’m also getting better with all of my camera options, I try to let myself go a little bit more and experiment with bolder presentation for my recipes.

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I think I’ve also seen that style on another food blog that I enjoy where the cook often present his soups in a plate with barely any soup in it but with fun topping that makes the whole thing enjoyable for the eyes.  This is my first attempt at it and it didn’t come out too bad don’t you think?  I would LOVE to have your feedback on this one, this is really far fetch for me but if you guys like it, I might feel a little less bad to experiment with more daring styles for the upcoming recipes.

So this is the Paleo Hubbard Squash soup that I served last week end to my friend who has the digestive condition.   The more I keep reading on the caveman diet, the more I like it.  Obviously I would never be able to follow it closely in my everyday life but I enjoy the fact that it makes me experiment more with coconut products like dried coconut flakes and coconut water.  The mix of the squash with the coconut milk and water really what makes this soup delicious and I hope you’ll enjoy this recipe as much as I did 🙂

PS: Feel free to modify this recipe and use any of your favorite winter squashes!  I’m pretty sure that it would be amazing as well 🙂

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Cauliflower & Watercress Soup (Vegan)

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I’ve been asked to post more vegetarian and vegan recipes on twitter….  I wont lie, I sometime find it constraining to create vegan approved recipes but I try to look at it as a challenge.  Now since I love challenges, this is actually pretty fun and this vegan cauliflower & watercress soup is of the deliciousness that I have been able to create up to date 🙂

In this recipe, I used a Lipton onion soup pouch because I find that it’s adding a fun new dimension to the taste but you really don’t have to add it in there 🙂  What really makes this coup special is the grounded fenugreek seeds because they are giving you the impression of chicken broth without any being in there 🙂

Anyways, enough chatting and more tasting! …I hope you’ll enjoy this healthy recipe 🙂

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