Taste- what we've been making

Living with Ryan and Britt is awesome! We are always trying new things out in the kitchen. It's pretty great to have a whole second set of recipe books to browse through and get inspired by. I wanted to share a few things we tried last week that I'm in love with.

Sarah's Red lentil coconut soup.

Holy macaroni is right! It's really easy and so delicious! The only tweak I would say is it could use a little more coconut milk. But you try it out and let me know what you think. Sarah at A House in the Hills has a crazy amount of yummy things to cook, go over and check it out!


             
              Next was these Crispy Smashed Potatoes I found on Pinterest via Caramel Potatoes

What a great idea eh? When I was making them all that was going through my head was "Why didn't I think of this!" And then I burned them a little. Whoops. But seriously it's such an easy idea and great change from your regular potato side dish, just make sure your rack isn't too low in the oven. ;)

What's been going on in your kitchen the last little while? Any great recipes to share?

Love and Hugs

Freeforall- Family dinner party

We're heading out to Aunt Ann's tonight for eggplant parmesan and I need to bring something easy and delicious. I'm thinking of the good ole standby of rocket salad with gorgonzola, pears and walnuts.

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This one's got raisins in it which I won't be adding. Actually I think I'll just come up with my own recipe on the spot. Lots of cheese, a little green and some fruit. Sounds good, right?

What are you guys up to this weekend? Any fun plans or is it hibernating season where you're at?

Love and Hugs

Taste- Praises a Plenty

This Christmas Ryan and Britt got me a beautiful veggie cook book called Plenty. Have you heard of it? The author is a meat eating chef in London named Yotam Ottolenghi and I love him! His recipes are easy and so friggin flavorful.

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I couldn't resist trying the cover recipe of eggplant with buttermilk sauce and zatar. It was a hit! I would deffinitely use this one again for entertaining. It was so easy and would really make people think you tried extra hard.

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Next up is this mushroom polenta. Can you just taste it now?! The mushrooms at the grocery store are gorgeous right now and I can't wait to get my hands on them.

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Yotam's first cookbook was also a success simply named Ottolenghi- The Cookbook. And well my birthday is coming up so you know......just sayin'. ;)

What cookbooks or recipes are you loving right now?

Love and Hugs

Taste- Meyer Lemons

The key limes and meyer lemons are in at my corner grocery store and I couldn't resist buying a few bags full. I came home straight away to look for something other than pie to make with them.

And violà! Thanks to Amy from Minimally Invasive I found this gorgeous Meyer Lemony pasta recipe!

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Is your mouth watering or what? I know I know I should be posting my first Taste Tuesday of January 2012 with some kind of cleansing smoothie or something but how can lemons, argula, creme fraiche and pasta be bad for you?! 

I would even dare to say its a lot better for your soul than that carrot/daikon/plum lukewarm water drink I know I should be drinking right now.

Are you with me?!

Love and Hugs

Taste- A festive brownie

I love strawberries, my brother loves brownies, we just moved in together and it's Christmas! What does this call for?

Santa Hat Brownies of course!

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Aren't they the sweetest things you've ever seen? Aunt Ann's Christmas party is on Friday and this recipe is at the top of my list of things to bring. Now all I have to do is figure out how not to eat them all.

 Is there anything extra special you plan on making this season?

Thanks to Daisy for the awesome idea!

Love and Hugs

Taste- What we ate: a week in food photos

Last week was seriously busy with Mom and Dad in town from Toronto and moving back to Canada and all making this one week late! Sorry guys but I hope you aren't mad and still find a little inspiration here?

Thursday was lentil and sweet potato stew. So comforting and yummy. Lentils like beans get a bad rap but they are so good, come on give them a chance!

Friday lunch was a salad with those hot italian pickled peppers I love and can only find at the Friday market. I also put some avocado, red onion and sundreied tomatoes on there. Fastest and easiest lunch ever!

Saturday was Mushroom Bourguignon and gougère from the November edition of Vegetarian Living UK. Needless to say this was pretty amazing!

Sunday was roasted cauliflower soup with hazelnuts and bread loosley based on my hands down favourite food blogger Sara's recipe from Sprouted Kitchen.

Monday was more lentils! And a veggie bake inspired by Samantha at The Frog and a Princess. I used a beet, slices of pumpkin, green tomato and polenta.

And Tuesday sadly was my first soup fail. I don't know what I did wrong but this one just didn't turn out that well. :( It was supposed to be fennel, potato and celeri. But it kinda was blah and green? Oh well back to the drawing board!

So there you have it! Another week another plate full of mostly goodness! So please tell what did you have last week? Anything worth sharing? You know I love a good recipe!


Love and Hugs

Taste- Dorie Greenspan's pumpkin packed with cheese and bread

Okay I know you guys have been waiting for this for a long time right? I have! All I want to do is make it again! I first heard about Dorie on twitter and then there was a feed on what to make with pumpkins which I had to read of course and Voilà! my pumpkin stuffed with cheese and bread was born!



Can you hear my mouth literally watering at the end when I'm slicing that puppy open? Kinda gross I know. Sorry about that.

Now tell me what did you do with your pumpkins this year? Just carve em? Or venture to the unknown and cook with them?


Love and Hugs

Taste- What we ate: a week in food photos

Did I tell you guys that I'm on a diet?! I have been trying to lose weight for a little over three years now. So far so good, I've lost 44 pounds and have roughly another 35 -30 to go. Slow and steady with lots of healthy soups and OA support from my Mom. And that's my plan. I also might have forgot to add I'm a vegetarian too? So if you not discouraged and feeling curious I'd like to show you a glimpse of what's on my plate through an average week:

Thursday was veggie chili. I heart beans in a major way. I don't know why I ever thought they were gross? They are little pockets of miracles as far as I'm concerned.

Friday was fresh pasta with roasted and sundried tomatoes, crunchy basil and that unbelievable burrata mozza from our favourite cheese people down the street.

Saturday morning Vince has been making pancakes and coffee in bed for me. Love him!

 

Sunday was my first attempt at a pumpkin stuffed with cheese and bread. HELLO!! I made a video about it, that's how great it is. Stay tuned.

 

Monday was back to soup business with miso, tofu, soba noodles, ginger, cilantro and wakame!

Tuesday was soup continued with roasted cauliflower and swiss chard! So filling and yummy!

And there you have it folks. Add a little meditation and exercise in there and you're all set! 

What about you? What's been on your table this week? Any recipes to share?

Love and Hugs

Freeforall Friday- Around my web table

These are my friends and inspirations from around this crazy blog/internet/twitter/virtual place I call home. I hope you have fun reading what they've been up to this week.

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Where not to go for afternoon tea in Paris.

Finally a contender for Best Crossaint in the city.

Was there ever a stronger girl crush than the one I have for this lady?

How does browned butter icing sound to you? Yeah I thought so.

What?! You haven't been to Campagnolo yet?

Chocolate and Paris, a match made in Heaven.

Things you say to your husband in the bathroom.

Wente vineyards on Wino Wednesdays.

How to know if what's going in your mouth is good for you or not.

Who you should have been for Halloween this year. Don't worry there's always next year.

Have a great weekend my friends!!! I don't know about you but I'm getting all excited for Christmas, it's only 1 month and 20 days away! Are you ready?!


Love and Hugs

Taste Tuesday- Quiche Lorraine by a real mec from Lorraine!

This weekend we've been in Metz with Vince's family. Metz is a gorgeous town in the northeast region of France called Lorraine. That's right folks where Quiche Lorraine comes from, and José, Vince's Dad makes the best version. He was so kind to share with you his technique here on the Sentimental Suitcase. Would you like to see?




I must tell you that José also makes the crust from scratch the day before. He also adds 1 or 2 onions which is not the norm but tastes great!

Many many thanks to José and Léo and Lise for all their help! We hope you liked it!

So tell me will you be making this for yourself? Do you like quiche? Did you know what a vrai Quiche Lorraine looked like?

Love and Hugs

Taste Tuesday- What we ate: a week in food photos

So I guess you've noticed it's Fall?;) I think in Canada and France we are both experiencing the smells and chills of the season and for me there's nothing like cooking when it gets cold out. Don't you agree? You feel like getting cozy and the food at the market is the type that brings comfort and needs to be roasted, I love it!
Here's a few pictures of the things we cooked up last week:

Wednesday was roasted butternut squash and adzuki bean soup.

Thursday was Sara's Sweet potatoes with chili beans, creme fraiche and guacamole

Friday welcomed fresh pasta with chantrells, roasted garlic, thyme and a knob of chevre

Saturday challenged us with aloe vera, apple and green tomato kebabs at Voy Alimento

Sunday brought cheese of course! We had Montbriac, Gloriotte and a seriously old Cantal

Back to healthy living Monday was barley, black radish, tomato and chard soup

This next week has pumpkin, potato, more swiss chard and apple and pear written all over it.

Anybody have suggestions or recipes?

And what did you eat all week my friends? I'd love to hear!


Love and Hugs

Taste Tuesday- Afternoon Tea Sandwiches

Last Thursay Milla invited me to join her for afternoon tea at The Royal Monceau hotel in the 8e arrondissement. How could I refuse? Thanks to my mother I love afternoon tea especially if there is champagne and mini sandwiches.

Unfortunately the Monceau's sandwiches left little to be desired. At first glance they look well made and exquisite but then the bad news, three of the four were meat. I had the cucumber one and the slices were cut too thick and to tell you the truth it was pretty tasteless.

Thank goodness the Pierre Hermé Ispahan made up for it.

That experience and the article in this months Vogue by Joan Didion seriously got me thinking about the afternoon tea sandwich and hosting one in my home. What kind of fillings and breads could I think of. Wouldn't it be interesting to break from the norm of cucumber and smoked salmon?

Well thankfully I didn't have to look far. The girls at Sunday Suppers always seem to have my best interests at heart.

How beautiful are these? And most of them vegetarian! Horay!

Karen and Lizzy created these flavours:
- Pea mash with Mint, White Radish, Olive oil, and Black Sea Salt on Rye Bread (egg shape)
- Blue Cheese, Pear, Violas on Mixed Grain (open faced Square)
- Tomato, Avocado, Salmon, on Brioche (circle shape)
- Cucumber, Goat Cheese, Sea Beans, and Flowering Broccoli  on rustic white (open-faced organic   loaf shape)

Add a little champagne and then that's an afternoon tea! What do you say? Late afternoon, next Sunday, my place?

Love and Hugs

Taste Tuesday- My 1st vlog version

Do you guys what to see me make a baked apple with no head and have around 4 minutes to waste? Then please watch my very first attempt at a vlog.

The start me up music is a song called Sweet thang by the band Big Soul. 

Another side note:Vince and I are trying to omit chemical and processed sugars like brown sugar from our diet and realize that Maple Syrup is indeed a sugar. Duh! (But it is natural and comes from a tree, Yay!)

We hope you enjoyed it and I promise the next one will be under the 1min30. Hopefully! ;)

Love and Hugs

Taste Tuesday- The Cocktail

I think you all know how much I love Campari. It could easily become a problem. Thankfully I also love wine and champagne which saves me from being on a perpetual Campari/soda bender. Unfortunately VosgesHautChocolate's campari/geranium/home made syrup concoction is threatening to push said problem over the edge. Check it out for yourself and tell me I'm not crazy!



Oh yeah and here's Katrinas recipe in case you finally stop watching on repeat and actually want to make the thing. (and join in my Campari obsession)

Strawberry Nectarine Geranium Cocktails
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup cocoa nibs
2 large strands with flowers of African blue basil
4 oz Campari
1 fresh nectarine
4 strawberries
4 large ice cubes
1 cup soda water
geranium petals

Make simple syrup by combining 1 part sugar to 1 part boiling water, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Infuse simple syrup with cocoa nibs, basil or experiment with your own herbal tincture! In a rocks glass, muddle fresh, juicy nectarines and strawberries. Add a splash of Campari, large ice cubes and top with soda water. Sprinkle organic geranium petals atop for garnish.


Thanks you so much to Cyd for sharing this from Peace Love and Chocolate!

Love and Hugs

P.S. Tell me you don't love her little finger happiness dance at the end when she loves the taste!

Taste Tuesday- Sara's sweet corn ceviche

Do you read Sprouted Kitchen? Do you love corn? Well then you must know about Sara's sweet corn ceviche! No? Don't freak, I am here to bring you all the glorious details.

Sara is a veggie like me and loves market food too. Her blog is so well written and the images are beautiful and vibrant. True food porn wouldn't you agree?

You can find the complete post and recipe here. I swear you won't be disappointed.

F.Y.I. Corn is ending it's season very very soon so make this recipe pronto! What else are you foodies cooking up with the last of the summer season fruits and veggies? Canning anyone? I want to know.

Love and Hugs

P.S. It seems like everyone is making a raw corn salad of some sort: The Bitten Word, Food and Wine, SusanV and Daley Dish too.

Tuesdays are all about Tasting

I bought some adzuki beans at the store over the weekend cause they were pretty...little russet red cuties with a white seam. (It's wonderful to love to eat and look at my food.)

After reading a little bit about them I discovered they are should taste sweet yet contain no fat, sugar, sodium or cholesterol! They are actually full of protien, fiber, potassium and iron, YAY! Now I really couldn't wait to cook them.

So here we go, soak over night, rinse and boil for 40 mins. Voila! Natures goodness sans human industrialized made crap!

We added some red onion, seaweed,fennel,tomatoes, germinated chick peas, radish, avocado and sesame seeds. I made the dressing with ginger, lemon juice, sesame oil, olive oil and herbs from the garden.
It was so filling and delicious!

Love and Hugs