Vegetables

Green Spinach Pesto

April 1, 2014 by Ariel 3 Comments

Here’s a fun and “jazzed up” pesto recipe made with fresh baby spinach, hemp seeds, arugula, coriander, Parmesan and more! The first time I made this, it was to go with some homemade raviolis stuffed with light ricotta and feta cheese and ohhhhhh! …I made a lot of happy tummy that night.

To make the pasta sauce, I stretched a few tablespoons of this pesto with coconut milk and a tab more garlic (I’m obsessed with garlic so taste before adding more) and just like that, I had made an flavorful and creamy sauce. Later that week, I used it for grilling some juicy steaks and even made a dip for the meat! Both experiences were very welcomed by everybody who had the chance to taste it and now it’s your turn to try 🙂

Hope you like it!

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Paleo Hubbard Squash Soup

February 21, 2014 by Ariel 2 Comments

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.

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)

December 2, 2013 by Ariel 2 Comments

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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“Diet Friendly” Corn Dip.

September 11, 2013 by Ariel 1 Comment

Searching for a healthy and “guilt free” dip to serve at your next party?! This easy and flavorful corn dip is definitely an option to explore!

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Corn, Feta and Sun Dried Tomatoes Salad!

August 8, 2013 by Ariel 4 Comments

What a nice and easy way to enjoy the taste of your homemade sun dried tomatoes. This is what we call: a short and sweet recipe because it is easy to do and you only need a few ingredients!

Enjoyed as a light and healthy lunch or on the side of a big juicy piece of meat, this delicious salad is going to scream SUMMER in every bites.

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Grilled Cabbage, Apple and Tofu Salad

June 26, 2013 by Ariel 3 Comments

The day of my trip to Budapest is coming soon.. At this same time next week, I’ll be on the other side of the world doing… well… a description of what I’ll be doing would inappropriate to for this blog so I wont finish my sentence LOL… Witch means that I have to go over all the veggies and fruits left in my fridge and make sure I keep eating healthy and not too much to get to my weight goal for the trip.

I’ve been experimenting a lot with tofu in the past weeks and since it’s such a versatile ingredients, extremely healthy and low fat, I thought it would be important to create a new category for it since I’ll be sharing a lot more recipes featuring this amazing ingredient. Today I’ve been teasing my facebook followers about a tofu spread recipe but I’m not 100% happy with everything I’ve made yet so here’s a fun little salad instead that could be serve as a fun appetizer….

The measurements for this recipe is for 2 persons so make sure you adapt the quantities if you’re serving more than 2. Enjoy!

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Easy, Breezy, Guacamoly…

June 11, 2013 by Ariel 3 Comments

Oh sun where are you?? You dont dare to show you face often enough in Montreal these days and how am I suppose to enjoy this delicious Guacamole on my balcony with a good book if you’re never there!! 🙁 #SadFace

Ok seriously, the past few days and weeks have been quit rainy, gray and cold on my side of the planet. I’m starting to think that we are going to have a very rainy summer if we even have one. At least my garden is not doing THAT bad and I’ll be tasting some of the juicy tomatoes growing in my plants soon but I feel like it could be stronger. Mother nature doesn’t seem to like us that much and I’m hoping this post could be the beginning of an apology for what ever she feel like we did around here…. This year’s winter was harsh, then we barely had a spring and now it’s raining like crazy… ugh…

I hope the weather is a lot nicer on your part of the planet and you have all the sun you need to put yourself on your balcony (or in your backyard) with a beer, a good book and this flavorful guacamole that takes only a few minutes to make….

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Grilled Cheezy Polenta with Spicy Pomegranate Salad

May 20, 2013 by Ariel 2 Comments

I’m planning a bunch of photo shoots in the upcoming months and I have to start watching what I eat…. Sound awful right? lol No worries it’s not THAT bad because my head is full of delicious ideas to keep me happy even when I have to watch what I eat…

This is a fun and easy recipe, for example, that I like to prepare as a lunch during those “model bootcamp” time but you could easily serve it as a fun appetizer. The total recipe will give you 4-5 maybe even more portions of polenta and salad dressing so it’s something you can keep in your fridge for about a week and grill your polenta at the last minute when you’re ready to eat it. I hope you’ll like it as much as I do and let me know how it turned out!

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Breakfast Tart

May 13, 2013 by Ariel 2 Comments

Hey Foodies!

Wow it’s been a while since my last post. The worst thing is, I have been shooting a lot new recipes for this site but I never got around to take my time to come here and post them. My life have been a roller coaster lately and it was hard to even come here and blog you something interesting to read with each of the recipes I shot. My online business took an unexpected turn and what looked like the biggest drama of my life, ended up being the best thing that could have ever happened to me. I guess nothing happened for no reason in life but the little stressed out Ariel wasn’t able to write or think about anything fun for you guys although I cooked and baked a LOT during this very stressful time. I’m so glad it’s over now…

On a more delicious note…. One sweet fan sent me a few cooking gear for my birthday in March and I have been dying to trying them out. One of them is a super adorable tart pan from fat daddios and since I was drooling over all the delicious tarts that you can see on foodgawker, I absolutely wanted to try to make my own so here it is! My first basic and delicious breakfast tart.

The whole concept is very easy and extremely versatile. You can basically stuffed the tart with anything you would like and enjoy it either as breakfast or do like me and make a dinner/breakfast (I love to do that).

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Fun Spring Salad with Fennel, Carrots & Apples

March 25, 2013 by Ariel 4 Comments

Even tho it’s technically spring right now, I’m looking outside my window and I don’t see it. Last week, for our first day of Spring, we had a big snowstorm in Montreal and since it looks like we are in the middle of January. The worst thing is, 2 weeks ago there was no more snow outside, the weather was starting to be nice and uplifting and the birds were singing. I’m wondering how surprised those pore little birdies were when they realized that only a few days after they either woke up or came back from the south, mother nature still had a ton of snow and cold weather for them.

One thing for sure, mother nature is getting more and more erratic with the years… and I cant believe some people are still so close minded that they don’t believe in global warming. …Ugh, ignorance like this annoyed me till no end and I feel like slapping all those people in the back of the head for having such ignorance but again, it’s not my place to do so but since this is my blog, I’m venting away lol …sorry about that that.

On a much funner and tastier note, I decided that even if it’s not as sunny as I would have expect it today, I’m not going to let this weather gets to me and I will be celebrating the arrival of Spring anyways with some fun light and flavorful salads like this one. It’s also part of my few posts that I’m dedicating to my contracted models who are seeking for healthy and low calories recipes to prepare because they have to go on photo shoots very soon. I hope you’ll enjoy this fennel, carrot and green apple salad as much as I did. It’s super easy to do, barely take any ingredients and will keep you full for quit a while. Enjoy!

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