I picked up this squash from our local store the other day (I don’t actually even know what kind it is – anyone know?). It was really tough to cut open, so I just made a small cut and shoved it into the oven for 2 hours on 350F. It smelled amazing (and was very easy to cut!) and tasted pretty good too – adding a bit of coconut oil or raw honey will make it taste amazing. Perfect for autumn!
I know this might look like a muddy bottle of cheap vodka to you, but it is in actual fact a delicious and highly prized (by me) bottle of my own vanilla extract. Fresh Madagascar vanilla beans with vodka (yes, it’s cheap vodka!). No sugar. No coloring.
It smells delicious, and I’ve made enough to last me quite a long long time! It’s also amazing how much cheaper it is to make your own. I initially balked at having to pay $28 for my vanilla beans (around 50 beans), but they were well worth it. And my vodka was only around $10. So for approximately $30 (because I only use around 30 beans), I can make 1 liter (or 33oz) of completely pure vanilla extract. The brand of pure vanilla extract I used to buy (Simply Organic) is $16 for 8oz on Amazon. So basically, it’s Double The Price to buy rather than make your own vanilla extract!
The method is simple, and this is how it works:
Living in New York, it’s hard to escape the influence of Tom Colicchio. From Riverpark to the entire chain of Craft restaurants, my OpenTable options are often crammed with his restaurants. And so this visit to Craftbar was definitely not my first!
I first came across Craftbar over a year ago when they started serving brunch. I happened to be looking for a nice brunch place that wasn’t ridiculously hard to get into (I rarely remember to make reservations a day ahead of time, much less 3 weeks…), and Craftbar answered my New Yorker Saturday morning needs! However, their dinner reviews on Yelp didn’t fill me with great confidence, which is why it took me over a year and countless brunch visits before I finally clicked to make a dinner reservation. Boy was I glad I did!
I had no idea what a world of difference fresh rosemary made until I started growing my own on my balcony. You can check out the photo of my potted plant at the end of my last article, which was on my mum’s organic garden. It’s so convenient to be able to just go pick some herbs and then throw it into a dish I’m making.
Ok, onto this Paleo baked salmon recipe because it’s super simple!
Here comes another simple recipe that requires Zero Cooking. It’s become a welcome habit when you have little time in the evenings. What I love about this recipe is the great mix of flavors (apples, curry, parsley, and a tiny hint of lime) and the fact you can make a bunch of it all in one go. In fact, I took some for lunch today.
I first discovered the joys of adding curry powder to tuna fish when I made this allrecipes.com recipe many years ago. Since then, I’ve simplified and improved the recipe (I hope) with fresh curly parsley and apples!
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These days, I feel like there’s barely any time to cook, so my only option is to cook without cooking….i.e. salsa!
I used to love potato & leek soup growing up – it’s just so thick and hearty and delicious. Since cauliflower is such a great substitute for potatoes, I figured it would work well in the soup to give it a thick texture. And of course, I just couldn’t resist adding in some bacon!
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I am a big tea drinker, and the quote on my mug there is one of my favorites! “While there is tea, there is hope.” And some days, I feel like that saying is so true!
I am generally a black tea fanatic, but I have on occasions had fruit teas. However, they’ve always been a bit of a disappointment – good smelling but cardboard taste. So my number one aim in making a fruity tea was to make sure it didn’t taste like cardboard!
I love sushi and kimbap (which is the Korean version of sushi, usually without raw fish), but they’re both laden with quite a bit of rice. Although I’m not that sensitive to rice, I generally try to avoid it (to the utter incredulity of my Asian friends). So what to replace the rice with in sushi?? Avocados of course! I already love avocados in sushi (think california rolls and of course, there’s even the avocado roll), and when avocados are mashed up, they have a very similar texture to the soft sushi rice.
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I had a lot of garlic cloves in my fridge, and I was concerned that they were going to go bad soon. What better way to make use of the garlic cloves than to roast them. After roasting them, I spread them on some burger patties. It just happened that the gentle flavor of the roasted garlic combined really well with the beef.
I started with some peeled garlic cloves and chopped off the end of each clove. (The oven was preheated to 350F (175C).)
I first heard about roasting cauliflowers with turmeric (more about what it is below) at a pot luck dinner I went to, and after reading about all the wonderful health benefits of turmeric (see here), I just had to try it! It’s so simple and makes a wonderful side dish to go with anything.
After preheating the oven at 350F (175C), I halved a large cauliflower (I was planning to use just half).
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This is a variation on the simple tomato basil salad I made a few days ago. I was inspired by Hey, That Taste’s Good’s roasted tomatoes recipe (here) and decided to roast my cherry tomatoes too! Since I still had so much fresh basil, I went with just basil instead of adding a variety of herbs. The roasting process caramelizes the tomatoes so they’re sweeter – in fact, it almost tastes like I’m eating sundried tomatoes. They were so delicious, I polished them off before the rest of my food was ready!
First thing I did was preheat my oven to 350F (175C). Then, I cut my cherry tomatoes into halves (grape tomatoes would work well too).
Then I added some minced garlic.
I love fresh basil, so those of course went in.
Lastly, I added some olive oil and salt.
After I mixed everything together well, I spread it on a baking tray making sure all the tomato halves faced up. I also tried to keep all the minced garlic and basil on top of the tomatoes rather than just on the baking tray.
Done after 40 minutes.
Prep Time: 10 minutesCook Time: 40 minutesTotal Time: 50 minutes
Category: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
I love simplicity, and this recipe is as simple as it gets! I was inspired by the really fragrant basil I bought at the farmer’s market this morning. I was going to pair this cherry tomato basil salad with a nice apple tuna salad, but alas, the farmer’s market didn’t have any curly parsley. So, instead, I just reheated some burgers we had grilled earlier and splashed on top a healthy helping of the new sauerkraut I got this morning from my CSA farm, Triangle Farm.
Work has been tough recently, which always impacts what I eat (in a bad way)! But, this is how I felt after eating my red velvet cake… Feel free to share!
I am constantly pained by poor lighting when I cook in the evenings, so let me just preface this recipe by telling you that this dish tastes even better than it looks or sounds! It really came about because I had some bacon in my fridge, and I was wondering what vegetables would go well with it. Zucchinis and mushrooms may seem an unusual choice to go with bacon, but they have very gentle flavors that I felt would complement and not clash with the stronger flavors from the bacon. And they definitely worked well! There’s also some scallions and parsley in the recipe, and they add a herbal hint to an otherwise bacon dominated dish.
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