Mariel's Noms

Squash Carmelli with Brown Butter and Sage

2010-11-17T20:38:00.001-07:00

Hi friends!

I have the most simple and delicious recipe to share with you tonight. It's really wonderful on a blustery, chilly day, and amazing for lunch the day afterwards! I'm talking about beautiful home made pasta, filled with hearty squash, fresh sage and smothered in nutty brown butter and a bit more sage. Yum! The word carmelli describes the cute as a button candly-like shape of the pasta, but really you can shape your pasta however the heck you want to...gigantic rustic ravioli would be tasty!

I don't think people realize how simple making your own pasta can be....especially if you happen to be the proud owner of a pasta roller! However, even if you don't have a roller, it's still extremely simple. All you need are eggs and flour!

Before I get too ahead of myself talking about home made pasta, I better talk about how to create this dish!

It's easiest to cook the squash you're using before starting on anything else. You can really use any type of winter squash you'd like to, but I used carnival and buttercup squash, simply because that is what we had in the cupboard!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Quarter your squash, and scoop out the seeds.

Place the quarters on a baking sheet and sprinkle with a little bit of water, and salt and pepper.

Now simply throw your squash into the oven and remove them when they are soft throughout. Use a fork to tell if they are or not.

Let the squash cool enough for you to handle on the baking rack!

Next it's time to make your pasta dough! I never really use a recipe, I just pour out as much flour as I think I'll need, and add enough eggs to create a smooth, yet dry dough! I add a few tablespoons of water to bring the dough together if it's a bit too dry. You will want the dough to stick to itself, but not another surface such as a counter, because you'll need to be able to roll it through the pasta roller!

Let the pasta dough sit while you create your filling! Letting it sit allows the gluten to take a break and this will make your dough easier to roll out, and less "springy"!

Using a spoon, I scooped the cooked squash from the skin, then mashed it with a potato masher along with chopped fresh sage, an egg to bind, salt, pepper, and finely grated firm goat cheese! So simple!

Now it's time to roll your pasta!

Whether you're using a roller or rolling the dough by hand with a rolling pin, get it as thin as you can! This will make more tender pasta.

Cut your dough with a knife into little rectangles or squares.

Spoon a little filling into the center of each square, and using your finger, dab a bit of water onto one edge of it, to seal your carmelli.

Roll the dough up, seal it, and twist the ends, like a little tootsie roll!

Next, bring a pot of salted water to a boil, and toss in your pasta! Cook until tender, about 5-10 minutes. Gently drain your little beauties.

While you are either waiting for the water to boil or your pasta to cook, you can make a brown butter and sage sauce to top off your dish. This sauce is as easy as it's name; all that's in it is browned butter and fresh chopped sage!

In a sauce pan, heat as much butter as you'd like, with a little chopped sage, and watch it slowly tuirn golden brown. Watch it carefully and pull it off the stove as soon as it reaches this state! After turning golden it tends to burn quickly. Drizzle this nutty tasting sauce all over your gorgeous home made carmelli, and wait for the compliments to flood in.

Enjoy!

xoxo

Mariel

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

2010-11-15T19:52:00.001-07:00

Hello friends!

I am back! There is nothing more boring than reading in full description why a blogger was absent for forever, so I won’t apologize too profusely. But I will say that I do finally have a new computer and am more excited than ever to start blogging again! This puppy ain't no Mac, that’s for sure…but it will do for now! My life is quite different this year than it was last, I am no longer a full time student…I have a full time job! I am taking one class at the university still…just because, but it’s really (really) lax. All these big changes have come about because of my decision to go to culinary school! I think about it every single day. However, I need a little more than the will to go to get there. That’s why I’m working! I have a few ideas of where I would love to go, but I find myself flip flopping constantly - I am sure you will soon become aware of this, so I won’t name any places quite yet! Anyways, I hope you are all as excited to see me back on here as I am…here’s a recipe for some cupcakes!

Oh yes, and I decided to come back to blogspot. I missed the comments, the communication, the love! I really did. I think this will be a great switch back.

After Thanksgiving, there was an extra can of pumpkin sitting in the cupboard, just tempting me to make some sort of pumpkin laced dessert... I finally decided on something a little plain jane, but nonetheless delicious. Cupcakes with a good ol' dab of cream cheese icing! These little gems did not rise up to normal "cupcake" form, and therefore ended up looking more like muffins...however, once you take a peek at the amounts of sugar in this recipe, you will see that these are no muffins.

Pumpkin Cupcakes

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup white granulated sugar

1 cup soft butter

4 eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1 (15 ounce) can pure pumpkin puree

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Pop muffin tin liners into your pan or pans!

Beat together the sugars, butter and eggs until well combined.

Stir together the flour, baking powder and soda, and spices in the measuring cup or a medium sized bowl.

Add the combined dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and combine!

Whisk in the pumpkin puree.

Pour batter into the liners about 3/4 full.

Bake cupcakes for about 20-25 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out of the center of the fattest cupcakes squeaky clean!

For the icing, I simply beat together a brick of plain cream cheese, a dash of almond milk, and a truck load of icing sugar. It was extremely sweet, hence the heart shaped icing (so you didn't get a full cupcake top's worth of the stuff). To do this, I just loaded my icing into a big zip lock bag, snipped a corner of it, and iced away!

These cupcakes were so moist! I brought them to work and they were all gone by noon, a good sign I'd say!

Enjoy!

xoxo

Mariel

Back From a Long Holiday!

2010-10-24T00:37:00.000-06:00

Hello friends!

I finally purchased a new computer, and here I am. I don't know what to do though. Will you help me decide?!?! As you may know, I had switched my little blog over to Tumblr back when I was still blogging up a storm...but I must tell you, Tumblr was a lonely, lonely little space. No commenting system was just no fun at all. So I feel like I should move back to where I feel I really belong - blogger. Blogger is such a warm, encouraging environment. But should I make switch number 3?!? Or just suck it up and stay on tumblr. Also. Should I start fresh? Delete all my old things and go with "new computer, new noms?" Please help me! I haven't blogged in so long that I am struggling with all these decisions. Regardless though, I am estatic to be able to share recipes and ideas with you all again. Because I can assure you, I've been cooking all this time I've been away, but it just hasn't felt the same not sharing it with you.

Much love,

Mariel

Mariel's Noms is Moving!

2010-05-05T00:59:00.001-06:00

Hi everyone! I've moved my noms over to tumblr for bigger and better things!

http://marielsnoms.tumblr.com

I'm going to keep this blog up and running though so all my recipes can stay up and be ready to be made! Enjoy the new site!

P.S. I put the last post from this blog up on the new one just because I like it and think it deserves a better home!

xoxo

Mariel

My Friends and Food

2010-05-02T12:05:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone! Happy summer (for all you university students)!

Myself being a university student...I've finally got a ton of time on my hands and my creativity has been going wild for the past couple of days! I've come up with a new "feature" I want to start doing for my blog that I'm super excited about: a series of showcases and interviews of a ton of my interesting friends all about food! From the interviews I do with them I'll then create a recipe just for them/named after them based on their favorite foods and memorable meals!

Anyways, I'll jump right in to my first interview for My Friends and Food, meet my lovely friend Katie! Today was one of the first sunny days in a while, so we went on a nice little hike through the ravine and I bombarded her with a million questions, I'm so happy with the photos and the interview!

Katie! Tell us a little about yourself before we dive into the world of food!

Well, I just finished my first year of Tourism and Recreation Management in Cranbrook, B.C. I am looking forward to a summer full of fun and adventures (and food) in Edmonton. I'm almost 19 (my birthday is May 21st, yay)! I'm unfortunately working full time as a student painter for the summer...oh painting...and I'm single and READY TO MINGLE!

You definitely are single and ready to mingle, girly!

Oh absolutely, I'm on the prowl. Kidding!

So, now let's get into the food talk (my favorite). What is your most memorable meal as of late?

Well, on my last night in Cranbrook, me and two of my really good friends had a giant BBQ with, now get this: 64 HAMBURGERS THAT WE GOT LEFTOVER FROM AN EVENT OUR PROGRAM HELD! They were delicious hand made burgers from the cafeteria. It was about 30 degrees out and gorgeous. We went to the local grocery store and picked up ALL the fixings, and started cooking! We obviously didn't eat 64 burgers to ourselves, but made a ton for all our friends still living in residence at the time. It would have been a different story if the burgers were free and not very good, but they were incredible.

So you like meat, that's my girl. What foods do you not like, if there are any?

Mmm...all kinds of fish! I'm not a huge seafood fan. So let's just say anything from the sea. Even fake seafood, my roommates had some imitation crab at one point, it made me sick! Also, I'm not a fan of green peppers. That's about it though!

That's not too bad! Even though I'm a seafood fanatic...but anyways...what about the food you LOVE?

I love sandwiches! Give me a sandwich and I'm a happy person. I love BBQ chicken and fruit, and...starbucks. I love muffins and baked goods...like banana bread!

What is your dream sandwich? Describe it for us...in extensive detail:

Okay, I'll go layer by layer. The bread will be...sliced marble rye...MMM! I'm already excited. Margarine first, and then a generous amount of mayo. Then we'll start with deli turkey, and then deli ham. Then jalapeno havarti cheese. Oooh then let's add some BACON! Sliced cucumbers...sliced pickles...tomato....fresh cracked black and mustard, then top it off with another piece of rye! Oh that sounds so good right now...

Now you must tell the food blog about a favorite specialty you make for me every time we come home after a night out together...

Well food blog world. There's a special thing called Kraft Dinner. But this is no ordinary Kraft Dinner. First it's boiled to the perfect al dente. Then you make the KD as the box says, but with a GOOD amount of margerine and a little bit of milk. Next, PRAY that you have Kraft Tex-Mex shredded cheese in your fridge. When you do find it, grab a handful (a heft handful) and toss it into your KD. Next, rummage through your freezer for those old hot dogs you have from summers past. And since time is of the essence, throw them in the microwave until they split at the seams...then you know they're ready! Cut those puppies up and throw them in your gourmet pasta, add a little ketchup, a little fresh cracked black and finish with a little extra Tex-Mex. Bon appetite! Oh so yummy.

It really is...this little dish has saved me from quite a few hangovers in the past, thanks girl! So Katie, for your personalized dish made by myself, what would you like to see incorporated into that bad boy?

Oh my goodness I don't even know...CHEESE! K so cheese...meat...lots of flavour, spice...and colour! And nothing with fish! That's all I can say!

Okay, I'll see what I can do with those requirements! Thanks for being my first "My Friends and Food" subject, Katie! Can't wait to make a recipe with your name on it! I'm so happy you're home for the summer!

So after thinking about what I should do for my "Katie" dish...I've finally come up with something! Here it is!

The Katie

1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni
1-2 spicy italian sausages
1 hot red pepper and 1 hot green (or jalepeno) pepper, diced very finely
4 tablespoons butter, divided
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
1 teaspoon dry mustard
3/4 teaspoon salt
a good grind of fresh cracked black pepper
1 cup shredded pepperjack cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated fresh parmesan cheese
1/3 cup bread crumbs (from old marbled rye bread)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and add your pasta.
Cook until al dente, and drain.

While the pasta is boiling, cook your Italian sausages and hot red and green pepper (as much as you'd like) in a frying pan over medium-high heat. When they're done cooking, set aside.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter and add your flour - whisk together.
A little at a time, whisk in the milk, dry mustard and salt and pepper.
Bring the sauce to a boil for about 1 minute, and then remove from heat.
Add in the pepperjack, cheddar and parmesan and whisk until smooth.
Stir in the cooked pasta to the cheese sauce, and pour into a shallow baking dish.

Now slice your cooled Italian sausage and add this and your cooked peppers into the macaroni and cheese. Mix in.

Finally, take the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and cook in the same frying pan used to cook the sausages the butter and 1/3 cup of rye bread crumbs.
Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture on top of the macaroni and cheese.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes!

So there you are, a dish with colour (the green and red hot peppers, the bright cheeses, the golden sausage and rye crumbs), with meat (spicy italian sausage, a more sophisticated hot-dog), cheese (lots of it) and spice!

Enjoy! I will make this sometime soon and post pictures eventually! But until then, you should try it out for yourself!

xoxo

Mariel

Bagels!

2010-05-02T11:22:00.000-06:00

Hello! I've been on a bit of a bread making kick lately (you will see more of this shortly), and recently tried something for the first time ever - making bagels!

This baking project was really fun actually and a bit quicker than full out loaves of bread, and the end results were impeccable. You really need to try your hand at bagel making yourself!

I got the recipe for these bagels from that $4 bread recipe book I purchased from Chapters not too long ago. However, as I was waiting for the dough to rise and flipping through more recipes to see what I was going to make next, I realized something depressing about my favorite little bread book. First of all, I realized it was laden with spelling errors. I don't know how it was even published with so many! I swear I'm not a spelling/grammar nazi, but these little errors made me seriously question the quality of the recipes within! Secondly I flipped to the "traditional" section of my book to check out the "whole wheat bread" recipe to see if I felt like baking up a loaf of that after my bagels. I read the ingredients first, as I always do, and then scrolled down to the instructions. The first line of instructions said to "Mix the yeast, water, sugar and cottage cheese together". As the cottage cheese art of that line sounded a bit odd to me...I quickly scrolled back up to the ingredients list to see if it was there. Well guess what? It wasn't!

I knew from here on I was going to have to do a lil' improvising with my bagels and play everything by ear...

So here's the recipe I ended up using:

2 teaspoon active drive yeast

1 cup warm milk

4 tablespoons softened butter

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

1 egg yolk

2 cups all purpose flour

In a mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk.

Add the softened butter, salt, sugar and egg yolk to the mixture and stir in well.

Add the flour a bit at a time until you have a nice soft dough that is "kneadable".

Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.

Place your kneaded dough into a greased bowl, turning the dough ball once to grease the top also.

Cover with saran wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size!

When your dough has doubled (this will take an hour or two), punch it down and shape it into 12 balls.

Push your thumb through the center of each dough ball to form a 1-inch hole.

If you are in search of perfect little bagel shapes at this point in the game, think again! I tried so hard to make perfectly shaped balls and "bagels"...it's just not possible! I was kind of disappointed in how my bagels looked at this point, but it gets better after the boiling and baking, I promise!

Place your shaped dough onto a floured surface and let it rest for about 15 minutes.

After the 15 minutes, flatten your bagels down a bit.

Now bring a large stock-pot of water to a rolling boil.

Drop your bagels into the pot (not too many, or they'll stick), and let them boil for about 3 minutes before removing with a slotted spoon.

Place your bagels on a greased baking sheet, 2 inches apart.

Also, preheat your oven now to 350 degrees F!

This is the stage where you can add whatever you like to the top of some or all of your bagels!

I sprinkled half of my bagels with the only bagel-ish topper I could find - poppy seeds!

Bake your bagels at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until nicely golden brown.

You can "knock" on your bagels if they're browned but you aren't sure if they're cooked in the middle.

If your bagels sound slightly hollow, they're done!

They turned out! I was so happy, I struggled past some very, very bad instructions...and was rewarded with fresh, delicious, warm bagels to smother in butter. Mmm.

These bagels did turn out, but I think I want to try a different recipe sometime, just to see what it's like! In the meantime though, these were a wonderful and rewarding batch of my first shot at making bagels. Enjoy!

xoxo

Mariel

Fresh Fruit Smoothies (Bubble Tea Minus the Bubbles)

2010-05-01T13:08:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone! So with summer upon us, and nice weather (kind of) on the horizon, my mind has been drifting to sweet, summer flavors. One thing that I had a late night craving for the other night was a big, fresh watermelon bubble tea...mmm. Sadly though, the bubble tea house had been long closed by this time...not like I had any money for one anyways! I looked into the fridge to see that we did in fact have a gigantic, juicy watermelon just waiting to be eaten...so I turned to the internet to find out what their secret is to making fresh fruit boba so damn good! I could deal with a tapioca-less bubble tea for one night, right?

Well...I found their secret. Turns out it's much more simple than I thought it might be...here it is...

A sugar syrup made with both BROWN and WHITE sugar!

That's it!

You take equal parts brown and white sugar, and then an equal part water (for example, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup white sugar and 1 cup of water).

Bring all the ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, and as soon as the mixture begins to boil, remove it from the heat!

Let it cool to room temp.

And you're done!

It's so bizarre, but as soon as this little mixture started bubbling, I really smelt the bubble tea house... It really is the brown sugar that is the secret!

The next steps to making a bubble-tea-esque smoothie are chopping up the fruit of your choice (I did watermelon, and then later on got carried away and tried banana).

Put equal parts chopped fruit and ice in your blender (or magic bullet...).

Fill the blender up with milk to where the fruit stops.

Finally add about a tablespoon or so of your sugar syrup and blend away!

This puppy actually tasted so similar to a watermelon bubble tea! I just need to pick up some tapioca pearls now...

The banana smoothie was okay...it was delicious at first, but then the banana started to "settle" a bit...which wasn't so pleasant.

So there is my recipe for an at-home bubble tea fresh fruit smoothie! I'm going to head to the asian grocery store sometime soon to get the tapioca pearls, and I'll post a real bubble tea sometime soon!

xoxo

Mariel

M.T.C.T. (Music To Cook To)

2010-04-30T14:11:00.000-06:00

Today's edition of M.T.C.T. is a bit different.

A) Because I've got a whole plethora of wonderful songs for you lovely people to get workin' in the kitchen to, and B) Because this beautiful music is coming from a good friend of mine:

Lauren Gillis

Lauren has been working away on an upcoming album for the past little while, and posting beautiful music on her youtube account for all to enjoy in the meantime. I would enjoy this music even if she wasn't my friend. And that, folks, says alot.

Her music is soulful, bluesy, folky and catchy (and her voice is heavenly) - everything that makes for perfect M.T.C.T.

Help her out in achieving everything she's ever dreamed of by voting for her in an up-coming competition she's entered that is a part of the Lilith Fair tour which will be happening across North America this summer! Lilith Fair is a tour consisting of all female singers and songwriters, and if Lauren wins she'll get a chance to sing alongside Sarah McLachlan, the tours co-founder and main stage headliner! I think she has a huge chance of winning this opportunity! Check back on the Lilith Fair website for updates on when the contest begins!

xoxo

Mariel

Mussels in a Spicy Tomato Cilantro Broth

2010-04-22T15:02:00.000-06:00

More recipes! This one is a good one. I made this a couple nights ago after reading about something similar in Bon Appetite! while waiting for my brother at the orthodontist's office...

We had a gigantic package of mussels waiting to be eaten in the fridge, and it's smart to eat mussels sooner than later! Therefore, we had a midweek seafood feast this week! Here's the recipe!

Mussels in a Spicy Tomato Cilantro Broth

about 2 pounds live mussels, cleaned and de-bearded

2 bottles of clam juice

3-4 tomatoes, seeds removed and chopped

2-3 tablespoons cayenne pepper, fresh or powder

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, cubed

1 1/2 cups fresh cilantro, chopped

3/4 cup thinly sliced green onion

Bring to a boil in a large stock pot over high heat: the clam juice, chopped tomatoes, cayenne pepper, tomato paste and lime juice.

Lower heat, pop on a lid and let simmer for about 15 minutes.

Bring to a high boil again and add in your cleaned mussels.

Sprinkle the cubes of butter over the top of the mussels, put the lid back on, and let steam until the mussels have opened, about 4 minutes.

Add in the chopped cilantro and green onion and toss into your mussels!

Serve immediately with fresh crusty bread to sop up the broth!

This simple recipe was so flavorful, fresh tasting and delicious! It really satisfied my seafood craving (which I get often), and I helped myself to multiple servings...

Enjoy!

xoxo

Mariel

Pomegranate Glazed Pork Tenderloin and Butternut Squash Ravioli

2010-04-22T14:31:00.003-06:00

Hey everyone! I've had a bunch of great recipes and photos tucked away for a little while, just waiting to get posted! So here some finally are. These ones come from Saturday night, when I got together with some old friends, Lauren and Lindsay, and we cooked up a completely home-made and decadent meal while sipping on some red wine and catching up (and laughing harder than I have in a long, long time). It was so fun! I love cooking with friends.

Lauren came up with some great recipes for us to try: Pomegranate Glazed Pork Tenderloin and homemade Butternut Squash Ravioli!

We started off making dinner by throwing together some fresh pasta dough to roll through our old pasta roller which I had lugged over to Lauren's house (it's so legit that everything is even written in Italian)!

Fresh Pasta Dough

2 cups flour

2 large eggs

On a clean table top, or in a bowl, mix together the eggs and flour until a nice bread-consistency dough forms.

You may need to add more of either ingredient to make your dough kneadable.

Knead the dough until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.

After we had a nice pasta dough ready to be rolled out, we needed to start cooking our squash for the filling of the ravioli. When we went to the grocery store they unfortunately didn't have any butternut squash so we opted for acorn squash...but I think the recipe would have been much better with the butternut, so definitely use that over acorn if you can! We used 2 acorn squash for the recipe, but one would have done! One butternut squash would be a perfect amount.

Cooking Your Squash

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut your squash in half, and using a spoon, scoop out all the seeds.

Place your squash cut side down onto a cookie sheet, and fill the bottom of the cookie sheet with 1/4 inch of water.

Place in the oven and cook for about 30 minutes or until tender.

Once the squash came out of the oven, we started on the pork tenderloin! This recipe was so easy, and really delicious, it was definitely the winning recipe of the night!

Pomegranate Glazed Pork Tenderloin

approx. 1 pound pork tenderloin

3/4 cup unsweetened pomegranate juice

1/4 cup white sugar

pinch of salt

fresh ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a saucepan combine 1/4 cup of the pomegranate juice with half of the sugar and cook until reduced to about half.

Pour over the pork and season with a pinch of salt and a bit of freshly ground pepper.

Pop in the oven and cook for about 20 minutes, turning the tenderloin half way through.

While the pork is in the oven, combine the remaining pomegranate juice and sugar, and reduce it in the same sauce pan, making sure to reduce it until thick and sticky (watch it closely as it could burn very quickly)!

When the pork is a nice medium done, pull from the oven and drizzle with the extra pomegranate reduction!

This pork was actually incredible! It turned out so juicy and tender, and really flavorful! I will definitely be making this again.

While Lauren was working away on the pork, I was working on the filling for the ravioli, and Lindsay had stolen the camera for the night...and was working on things like this...

Anyways, the squash had come out of the oven and were cooling off to be mixed into a delectable filling for ravioli, the pork tenderloin was waiting to be cooked up, and it was finally time to run the pasta dough through the roller! This was quite an ordeal, but fun!

We rolled out enough fresh pasta to feed an army... And if you don't have a pasta roller you could always just roll out your dough with a rolling pin! With the gigantic sheets of pasta waiting to be cut into adorable little ravioli, it was time to make the filling and pop the pork into the oven.

Squash Filling for Ravioli

1-2 cooked butternut (or acorn) squash, seeded and skin removed

3-4 tablespoons goat cheese

1/2 a medium sized onion, chopped finely

a handful of fresh sage, chopped finely

1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter

salt and pepper

Mash your squash in a bowl and add the goat cheese.

Finely chop your onion and sage, and melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat.

Add the onion and cook until tender, then throw in the sage and continue to cook for about a minute.

Add the butter mix to the bowl with the squash and season with salt a pepper.

Viola!

To cut the ravioli I just used a plain old round cookie cutter to create an army of little ravioli ready to be plopped into boiling hot water!

I had a cup of water beside me while making the ravioli and sealed these beauties up with a little water run around the edges of both sides of the pasta, simple as that.

When you're finished making your ravioli, boil and salt a large pot of water and toss them in! Fresh pasta cooks much faster than dried pasta, so your babies are done almost as soon as they float to the top of the pot.

To top off our beautiful ravioli, we made a simple hazelnut butter. To do this all we did was chop up some hazelnuts and toss them into golden, melted butter!

I also topped off the pasta with a bit more goat cheese...I am a goat cheese addict.

Here are our plates of pretty pasta!

The pork was done at the perfect time, and came out gorgeous!

Mmm.

Dinner turned out so great and was so fun to make with the girls. Nothing beats home-made pasta. It's so simple, and makes such a difference to your dishes! I hope this inspires you to get together with some old friends and try something new!

xoxo

Mariel

A Lovely Prime Rib Dinner

2010-04-15T18:38:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone! I've got another good recipe for you all! This one includes a perfectly juicy, tender prime rib roast, cooked slowly over an afternoon, roasted asparagus with a lemon butter, and tasty mashed potatoes with gravy. Mmm!

I'd never "slow cooked" a roast before, but after trying it, I will never crank the oven up to 350-400 ever again for a beef roast!

I started off this dinner by seasoning the bejesus out of the roast with plain old salt and pepper in preparation for a good ol' sear in the frying pan. Oh yeah, and always start with meat that has been out of the fridge for a little while and is room temperature!

Heat enough olive oil to coat the bottom of a large frying pan until it is almost smoking, then throw in your roast and sear it up until nicely browned on all sides.

If you've got a nice roast with the bones in, place it bone side down in the roasting pan you've got out. The bones act as a roasting rack! Also, the fattiest side is usually opposite of the bones, so during the cooking the fat will drip down over the entire roast making it delectably juicy.

Heat your oven to just 200 degrees F, and season your roast how you like it. I used an army of fresh rosemary, which i pounded with the back of my knife to release the flavour and then finely chopped, and loads of fresh garlic (and even more salt and pepper).

It smelt soo good already before it had even entered the oven!

Then, roast away! Put the lid on your roasting pan, pop it in the oven, and forget about it! For a couple of hours, at least... I put mine in at 2:30 in the afternoon and it was a perfect medium rare at about 6:30 just in time for dinner. It came out beautiful!

For the asparagus I put them in the oven for about 30 minutes at the low 200 temperature, and they were a bit crunchy, but I like them like that for some reason. I topped them with butter I had melted on the stove top combined with the juice of half a lemon. Yum!

To make the gravy I combined the drippings from the roast with flour and water on a hot stovetop, and then added in the bits of roasted garlic that had escaped from the sides and top of the roast. This little touch was soo delicious!

And there you are! The perfect directions for a perfect roast. Enjoy!

xoxo

Mariel

Mariel's Noms Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

2010-04-14T18:21:00.000-06:00

A recipe! Finally! This one came together kind of on a whim but turned out delicious, so definitely try it for yourself and enjoy!

I was seriously craving the tastes of the south two nights ago for dinner, and all we had in the fridge that was defrosted was chicken, so I thought...pulled chicken instead of pork? Why not! I did a quick search for a recipe (as always), and found one that looked fairly simple and quick, as the dinner hour was quickly approaching by the time this decision was made.

However, as soon as I started on the recipe I had found, I realized that what I was about to make would be in no way similar to the recipe, as we were out of practically every ingredient on the list!

That's when the improvisin' came in, and luckily turned out great!

Start off your pulled chicken with a little spice paste to slather your chicken in before a quick sear:

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon celery seed

2 tablespoons ketchup

1 teaspoon louisiana hot sauce

a good grind of fresh black pepper

sea salt

Stir everything together until it forms a paste, and then rub it into about 4-5 skinless, boneless chicken breasts.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a stock pot and sear the chicken breasts until browned but not cooked through.

Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.

Next, finely dice:

1/2 bell pepper

1 small onion

Add these to the pot and cook until tender.

Then add the chicken back to the pot.

Next add:

1 cup of clamato juice

2 tablespoons ketchup

1 tablespoon louisiana hot sauce

Bring the chicken in the liquid to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, pop the lid on and let the chicken simmer for 20 minutes or until cooked through.

When the chicken is cooked, remove it from the liquid and turn the heat off.

On a plate, pull the chicken apart with two forks and then return it to the liquid.

Bring everything back to a boil and add:

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Let the liquid reduce, and your pulled chicken is done!

Serve your pulled chicken on buttered, soft buns.

I was so surprised at how delicious this was! It tastes authentic and moist and melt-in-your-mouth good! There were so many changes I made that it was nothing like the original recipe, so here you go: Mariel's Noms Pulled Chicken Sandwiches! Yum.

xoxo

Mariel

Oh yeah, I almost forgot...

2010-04-14T01:23:00.001-06:00

In the meantime, ogle these photos of adorable sewn food from (a once up and running) http://indierocket.com

I love fake food, especially of the sewn and knitted variety.

xoxo

Mariel

Hello!

2010-04-14T01:15:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone! I'm still alive and eating, I swear. I've just felt so busy lately, and embarrassingly have not really cooked anything until as of late. But I cooked two really good things for dinner the past two nights, and will tell you about them very shortly!

It's almost summer!

xoxo

Mariel

Saturday Night Cooking w/ 1hundo

2010-03-30T13:31:00.001-06:00

Hello everyone! So I guess 1hundo and I have gotten into a little routine of cooking dinner together on Saturday nights when he's off work... Here's a little shot of the finished product from this past weekend! I have to admit, this week, Patrick did most of the cooking, and whipped up some mean burgers. I could barely fit those bad boys in my mouth! Makin' me proud, that boy is.

For the wonderfully written up recipe (yes, he even did that too this week), and beautiful shots of our meal (as always), check out:

http://1hundo.ca

I am such a lucky girl!

xoxo

Mariel

My First Loaf of Bread

2010-03-30T00:58:00.001-06:00

Hello everyone! I've got a nice hefty post for you today...it's all about my big baking extravaganza with bread!

It all started with a little stroll into Chapter's with about $10 in my pocket...

I immediately ascended the escalator up to my favorite section: the bargain cookbooks. Big, bold "$14.99" stickers caught my eye left right and center on gorgeous, thick "country recipes", "moroccan cooking" and "1001 cupcakes" books. Today was not a day for splurging though... I made my self comfortable in the spot of the shelf that was a little more affordable...by sitting cross legged on the surprisingly clean carpet. Usually a sucker for all things flashy, something bizarrely plain caught my eye this day - a little coiled bread recipe book (with barely any photo's even)...for $4.99. Right in my price range. That's right everyone, I actually went for substance! This little book holds more bread recipes than I can count, plain and extravagent, I was ready for a challenge.

I got home thoroughly excited and immediately whipped out the yeast and got started. I knew what I wanted to make as soon as I saw the recipe in the book - challah bread.

You see, ever since my trip to Aunties and Uncles, I've been challah crazy. It's hard to get off my mind every time I settle for a piece of plain old toast...try it, you'll see what I mean.

Challah Bread

2 packets of active dry yeast

1/4 cup of warm water

1 cup lukewarm milk

3/4 cup of brown sugar

1 tsp of salt

3 eggs

1/2 cup of softened butter

5 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 egg

First of all, dissolve the yeast in the 1/4 cup of warm water, make sure there are no gluey bit of yeast! It all dissolves eventually with a bit of patient stirring.

Stir in the milk, sugar, salt, 3 eggs, butter and 3 cups of flour.

Beat until smooth.

Keep stirring in flour, bit by bit, until the dough is easy to handle.

Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface when it looks like this:

Knead until smooth and elastic, about 6 minutes.

Throw the dough on the counter as hard as you can, fold it over on itself repeatedly, punch it - go crazy on that hunk!

Next, place your smooth and elastic dough in a lightly greased bowl, making sure to cover the entire dough ball in a little grease.

Wrap your bowl with plastic wrap and set it in a warm spot to rise until doubled in size. I put my bowl under the hot lights above the stove, it was perfect.

Look at this dough rise! It's very exciting...

The rising process should take about 2 hours.

The dough is ready to go if an indentation remains when touched!

Punch down your risen dough once again and cut it in half, like so:

Do a little more kneading (not too much at all) and form your dough into two slightly flattened circles.

Place these in greased round 9x2 inch layer cake pans, and cover and let rise until doubled again, about 1 hour this time.

(So exciting)

When your dough is looking fluffy and pretty once again, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Whisk one egg and brush it on the top of your loaves, followed by a bit of sprinkled sugar.

For one of my loaves I cut an "X" into it just to see how it would look...next time I'd definitely do this to both loaves! It looks so lovely and rustic when they were baked.

Pop in the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown, and voila, beautiful, fresh, delicious smelling, sweet, soft challah!

Here's that pretty "X" i was talking about!

The house smelled so wonderful that I couldn't help myself from cutting into the fresh from the oven bread for a slice to smother in butter.

Let me tell you, this slice was absolute heaven. And I made that bread myself? I can't quite think of anything more satisfying that I've ever made.

So buttery and flakey and eggy...mmm....challah.

So there you have it! My first loaf (loaves) of bread, ever. This was a very successful baking adventure! I cannot wait to try more recipes from my new little book.

xoxo

Mariel

Eggs!

2010-03-24T23:40:00.002-06:00

Hello everyone! So you may be wondering why I am posting about measly old eggs...but you see, this particular dozen was very eggciting.

My little brother came home from a sleep over a couple days ago with a bunch of gorgeous, gigantic eggs from his friend's mom! Apparently she works with a woman who has a few too many chickens and gives away free run, organically fed eggs like there's no tomorrow! Thanks Ian!

I got a little carried away with my camera and took pictures of almost every single egg...they were all so differently shaped and beautiful!

And nicely tucked away in an old egg carton...

And speckled too!

Anyways, just wanted to share that with you all! Have a nice Wednesday night!

xoxo

Mariel

Potato and Celery Salad with Ricotta

2010-03-24T11:25:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone! I made this little dish a little while ago and never got a chance to post it - so here you go! I made this salad as a starter dish for some dinner that I can't remember the rest of...

The inspiration for this puppy came from the salad I had at Pizzeria Libretto in Toronto with Chloaye and Tatomme (it's practically a direct recreation of the dish...from everything I remember of it)! I think I remembered everything pretty well though, as this salad tasted almost identical to the one I had then! So enjoy this simple, fresh potato salad recipe!

Potato and Celery Salad with Ricotta

I won't put any measurements because everything depends on how many you're cooking for and your tastes!

baby red, white or fingerling potatoes

white onion

celery

olive oil

dijon mustard

white wine vinegar

flat leaf parsley

ricotta cheese

milk

salt and pepper

Wash and cut your potatoes into nice bite sized wedges or slivers, and bring to a boil in salted water and cook until the potatoes are "al dente" - the potatoes being nice and cooked yet still firm gives this salad a nice texture.

Meanwhile, cut your onion into small slivers, as well as your celery (I cut it on a big angle because that's how they did it in the restaurant)!

Next, mix a little milk into your ricotta cheese, so it's nice and oozy on the plate. Also add in a bit of olive oil and a big helping of salt and pepper to the cheese, and place this mixture down on your serving plates like so:

When the potatoes are finished cooking, let them cool down, and then add them to a large bowl with the celery and onion.

Now it's time to whip up the dressing! I just did a simple olive oil and white wine vinaigrette and added in the most minute amount of dijon for a little zing, and of course salt and pepper.

Toss your potatoes, celery and onion in your dressing.

Lastly add the chopped parsley to this mix and combine everything.

Place your potatoes and friends in a nice little pile on top of the ricotta, and give the salad a good drizzle of olive oil to finish it off!

Enjoy!

I have to say I am quite impressed with how this turned out and will definitely be making it again. It tasted so fresh...and the simplicity of the flavors was a nice change and great way to start a meal! It was very pretty too (I'm a sucker for aesthetically pleasing plates and colours in food)!

Oh yeah, and if you're feeling a little wary of the ricotta in this dish - try it! It might sound bizarre, but it's soo good! Especially since you transform it into a creamy, milky, savory component of the dish with all the salt and pepper and olive oil you pack into it. Mmm.

So there you go! I hope you all enjoy this salad. I thought it was a nice spring salad recipe...but it looks as though spring has disappeared once again (as always), so you can just pretend it's spring in your kitchens with this little dish!

xoxo

Mariel

M.T.C.T. (Music To Cook To)

2010-03-24T10:58:00.006-06:00

change of heart - el perro del mar

My Favorite Chocolate Cake

2010-03-22T01:49:00.002-06:00

Hello everyone! It's time that I share with you all the most incredible chocolate cake recipe that you've ever tasted...

It's no surprise that one of my favorite cake recipes of all time comes from one of my favorite culinary ladies of all time - Ina Garten! This recipe, my friends, is one of those tried and true-keep for your entire life-everyone asks for it everytime you make it recipes.

This particular cake was made for no real "special" occasion, but it had been long over-due since it was made last. The making of this delicious piece of chocolate heaven actually came about because Patrick needed something to shoot for his photography class, hence the gorgeous pictures we all get to gawk at to go along with this gorgeous recipe. Thanks Patrick! Your pictures are always, always welcome on this blog...

Anyways, I guess I better give you the recipe after all that hype, hey?

Beatty's Chocolate Cake

Recipe from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa at Home

butter for greasing the pans
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the pans
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup good cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temp
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Butter two 8 inch round cake pans.
Line with parchment paper, then butter, and then flour the pans.
Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an eletric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined.
In another bowl, combine the butter milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla.
With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry.
With the mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35-40 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.

Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
Place one layer, flat side up on a flat plate or cake pedestal.
With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting.
Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

Chocolate Frosting

Recipe from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa at Home

6 ounces good semisweet chocolate
1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temp
1 extra large egg yolk, at room temp
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup sifted confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon instant coffee powder

Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.

Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temp.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for 3 minutes.

Turn the mixer to low speed, gradually add the confectioners sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping the bowl as neccesary, until smooth and creamy.

Dissolve the coffee powder in 2 tablespoons of the hottest tap water.

On low speed, add the chocolate and coffee to the butter mixture and mix until blended.

Don't whip!

Spread immediately onto cooled cake.

And there you go! If you're worried about the copious amounts of coffee in this cake - don't worry! You can barely taste it, and the coffee is just in there to enhance the flavor of the chocolate and make the cake really moist. And boy does it ever...

The cake - and the photos - turned out beautiful!

Thanks to the master photographer and wonderful helper.

Patrick has a bunch more photos of the baking extravaganza on his blog - 1hundo. - so definitely check those out! I hope you all enjoy this cake as much as we did (and always do)!

xoxo

Mariel

M.T.C.T. (Music To Cook To)

2010-03-20T12:05:00.000-06:00

mr. tambourine man - bob dylan

Rustic Mac n' Cheese

2010-03-19T13:57:00.004-06:00

Here's a great recipe for something that people opt for the processed version all too often...mac n' cheese! This tastes a heck of alot different than K.D., in a good way. You must try making up a dish of homemade mac n' cheese if you haven't yet, it is the ultimate comfort food! Hmm...I seem to be having a bit of a theme here this week with the whole comfort thing...

Rustic, Simple Mac n' Cheese

1 8oz package of macaroni

1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons butter

2 cups milk

2/3 cup soft buttered crumbs (combine 2/3 cup bread crumbs with 2 tablespoons of soft butter)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cook macaroni in salted boiling water until al dente, and drain.

Grease a large casserole dish and place a layer of macaroni on the bottom, sprinkle with cheese, butter, flour and seasonings. Continue to layer until all ingredients are used evenly in the layers. 3 layers is perfect.

Pour milk over everything. Top with buttered bread crumbs.

Bake at 350° for 40 minutes.

I am obsessed with bread crumb topped anything, it just feels so traditional and exotic to me (even though it's really a peasant-food type of thing)! Yum.

xoxo

Mariel

M.T.C.T. (Music To Cook To)

2010-03-18T14:38:00.001-06:00

hold you in my arms - ray lamontagne

Shepherd's Pie and Paddy Whisky

2010-03-17T22:36:00.000-06:00

Hello lovely people! So it's been over a week since I posted last...and I figured there's probably no better day to get back into the rhythm of things than the holy day for Flanagan's itself, St. Patrick's Day! I'll skip all the small talk and get down and dirty and into the recipe for the slightly Irish dinner I cooked up tonight, shepherd's pie. Okay...I know it's an English dish, but it's only an Irish sea away, and that's close enough in my books!

Traditional Shepherd's Pie

5-6 large russet potatoes

1-2 pounds lean ground beef

4 medium sized carrots

1 onion

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1 tablespoon of canola oil

worcestershire sauce, to taste

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 cup frozen baby peas

3/4 cup beef stock

2 tablespoons flour

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Peel and dice the potatoes, and bring them up to a boil in a large pot of water until soft.

Meanwhile, dice up the carrots and onion, and cook them in a large pan with 1/4 cup of the butter and the bit of canola oil until fairly done.

Then add the ground beef to the onions and carrots, and cook until the pinkness is gone from the beef.

Add the worcestershire sauce, thyme, peas and beef stock to the pan and simmer until most of the liquid is gone.

Add in the flour and stir well, and season the mix with salt and pep.

Drain the potatoes when they are finished cooking and mash using the remaining butter.

Pour the beef mixture into a large enough baking dish, and top it off with the mashed potatoes. Use a fork to make little ridges/peaks so the potatoes get extra crispy in the oven.

Pop the dish into the oven until the potatoes are nice and golden and the pie is bubbling!

I have to say - I love Shepherd's Pie! It is the ultimate comfort meal for me... And while I'm saying things, here's the reason I even made dinner tonight!

You see, it was actually Dad's turn to make dinner tonight...but he let his ancestry get ahold of him and got a little carried away with the "Paddy's". That's okay though...we are Flanagans!

With the shepherd's pie we just had a nice, simple green salad in an attempt to off-set all the starch on our plates!

Ahh it feels good to post again...I cannot let this much time go in between posts again!

xoxo

Mariel

Om Nom Photoshop Cookies

2010-03-08T22:40:00.013-07:00

Adobe Photoshop Cook from Lait Noir on Vimeo.

Hello Friends! This is such a cute video. I had to share! Yes, I am a nerd and I like to bake.

xoxo

Mariel

Picked Up a Couple Things...

2010-03-07T23:54:00.000-07:00

Hello lovelies! I hope you all had good weekends! Unfortuntely I didn't really cook much up since the baking on friday, however I bought a couple things from T&T today that I'm super excited about!

Okay, okay...I know I bought pre-made kimchi which is super lame when I have a food blog (I should be making that shit myself), but I could not remember for the life of me the ingredients needed to whip up a batch as we were perusing the massive shop and opted for the value tub...

But now onto the slightly more exciting purchases: we picked up a nice tub of miso paste (which we haven't had in our fridge for far, far too long), pea shoots (perhaps my most exciting find, I'm used to seeing these little babies sprinkled delicately on top of my beef carpaccio at expensive restaurants...and have always been obsessed with the sweet, fresh flavour of these "shoots"...we bought a MASSIVE bag) and a big ol' bag of bean sprouts, which I'll make some marinated Korean bean sprouts with very soon to go along with all that kimchi! Always love little finds at T&T! Look forward to yummy recipes including all these things soon!

xoxo

Mariel

Cookies!

2010-03-05T13:05:00.002-07:00

So I've been craving everything and anything sweet lately. I know, I tried to cut back on sugar a little while ago, but I've seriously been feeling deprived - and hadn't baked in forever, so I figured it was time to whip up a batch of cookies.

I used my new favorite recipe, that I got off of Chef at Home, and ventured off the path of your average chocolate chip cookie.

I divided the dough in half and for one half used eggnog flavored chocolate pieces, and for the other half used a mixture of white chocolate bits, dried cranberries, and a good handful of hemp seeds!

The white chocolate/cranberry/hemp seed cookies turned out so beautiful! I love pretty colour combinations in my food...

The cookies turned out perfect again. This is honestly the best no-fail cookie recipe I've ever used! The cookies always turn out with the perfect crunch/chewy ratio, and stay chewy, too!

Mmmm...

xoxo

Mariel

Best Omelette I've Ever Made

2010-03-05T12:50:00.000-07:00

Hello all! I have to share this with you - this is yesterday's breakfast, and the best omelette I've ever made.

It turned out so perfect it almost looked like a taco, not an omelette!

I know this sounds like a bizarre accomplishment, but you see, usually I'm omelette-ly challenged. Honestly before this puppy, every omelette I've ever attempted to make has burnt, fallen apart, been mushy on the inside, or anything else bad that could happen to an omelette!

I whipped this little breakky up with fond memories of Aunties and Uncles still lingering in my mind, so I did a little recreation of the roasted vegetable omelette I "oohed" and "mmm'd" over in Toronto! We were very low on groceries yesterday, so mine only consisted of: roasted asparagus, broiled roma tomatoes, roasted garlic, and extra old white cheddar. But it did the trick! Mmm.

xoxo

Mariel

Jerk Chicken n' Red Stripe

2010-03-04T10:09:00.004-07:00

Hello loves! Okay, okay...so I've also realized that I've kind of been on a chicken kick lately...but everything chicken I've eaten has just been so good! Last night I (finally) headed out to the Monthly Reggae Night at Redstar with Patrick (who I stole these photo's from...it was so dark in there I'm sure my camera wouldn't have sufficed)!

I have been dying to try the jerk chicken, rice and peas (the "peas" are actually beans) and cornbread (I have a major weakness for cornbread) for ages (and of course sip on the red stripe specials), but since this event falls on the first wednesday of every month, something school-wise always came up!

But I finally have gone, and am pleased to tell you - the food was everything I dreamed it would be. The chicken was the perfect heat (spicy, but not burn-your-mouth-off spicy), and so moist and juicy, the rice and peas were delicious and homey and the corn bread was perfect. The red stripe's were icy cold and the people there - incredible! I have a feeling this won't be my last journey out to Redstar for these nights...

xoxo

Mariel

Chicken n' Waffles

2010-03-03T19:30:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I'm sitting here waiting to go out to eat tonight (more on this later), and browsing through a bazillion food blogs (which is making me even hungrier than I already am), and came across this, and just couldn't not share. Gourmet chicken and waffles? Yes please.

More here: http://momofukufor2.com/

xoxo

Mariel

Korean Chicken Wings and More

2010-03-02T21:20:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I've got some very yummy recipes for you to try out from tonight's dinner!

I was on supper duty today, and came home to see a big package of chicken wings sitting out on the counter defrosting. Not in the mood for the usual buffalo or salt and pepper wings, I went searching through the fridge and cupboard to see what we had to add some interest and flavor to those puppies. Upon searching, I realized that we were running pretty low - on almost everything!

It must have been my craving for something nice and garlicky paired with our abundance of Asian flavours that inspired tonight's meal! Whenever I think garlic + Asian ingredients, Korean food always come to my mind first.

After a quick search on the internet to see how things go together nicely to form uniquely Korean flavours, I got started on making dinner!

The menu for the night: Korean chicken wings, Gamja Jorim (potato side dish) & Ol Namul (cucumber salad).

I started off with the wings, as they would take the longest. Here's how I made them!

Korean Chicken Wings

1 to 2 pounds chicken wings

2 tablespoons canola oil (plus more for frying)

3 tablespoons grated ginger

1/4 cup sherry or port

1/4 cup white or rice vinegar

2 tablespoons sesame oil

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup Sriracha or other chili/garlic sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place wings on a baking sheet, sprinkle lightly with salt (there's a ton of soy sauce coming later), and cook in the oven for 35 minutes.

While the wings are cooking, in a medium sized frying pan or sauce pan over medium heat, add the canola oil and ginger.

Let the ginger cook for 2 minutes, then add the sherry, vinegar, sesame oil, honey, soy sauce and chili sauce.

Let this mixture simmer for about 2 minutes, then remove from heat and set aside.

In a large sauce pan, pour about an inch or 2 of canola oil, and let it heat up to about 350 degrees F for frying.

Add the cooked wings from the oven into the pot and let them crisp up and get golden brown.

Remove from the fry and let them chill out on some paper towel for a bit.

Finally, toss the fried and baked wings in the sauce and serve up!

These wings turned out amazing! The crispiness from the frying and the intense flavours in the sauce were so incredible. I will definitely be tossing those ingredients together again for a marinade, or another sauce in the future. It is packed with multi-layered flavour, and just the right level of spiciness.

With our lack of ingredients, and need for some sort of salad/vegetable dish, cucumbers were the answer tonight. After a quick Google search, I learned that Korean food actually does include yummy cucumber recipes! What I did with the cucumbers was super simple, and they were a nice, cool addition to the meal.

Ol Namul (Korean Cucumber Salad)

1 long english cucumber

dash of salt

2 cloves minced garlic

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon Sriracha

Cut the cucumber into circles, and "marinate" with a bit of salt while the chicken wings (or whatever else you're cooking) are being made.

Mix the remainder of the ingredients together, and dress the sliced cucumbers!

Serve chilled, enjoy!

The other thing I was surprised to learn tonight is that simple dressed, cooked, cubed, and cooled potatoes (a kind-of potato salad you could say) are also traditionally Korean! This made me happy as I was just not in the mood for rice tonight.

Gamja Jorim (Korean Potato Side Dish)

4 medium sized potatoes

3 tablespoons soy sauce

3 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons garlic, minced

3 teaspoons sesame oil

4 tablespoons onions, finely minced (scallions would have been much better, but we didn't have any)

Peel the potatoes and cut into approximately 1 inch cubes.

Place cubed potatoes into a saucepan with just enough water to cover them.

Bring to a boil and cook until just tender.

In the meantime, combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl.

When the potatoes are cooked, toss them in the bowl while they're still hot and coat them with the mixture.

Pop in the fridge to cool down.

Serve chilled!

Here's my plate ready to be demolished!

All the flavours went together so well tonight (I sure am glad those cucumbers were in there for a little variety...)!

I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I did! Tonight was a nice change from boring old chicken wings, and I learned a couple things about Korean cooking too!

xoxo

Mariel

Baking Shakespeare

2010-02-27T14:14:00.000-07:00

Hello all! First things first, so sorry about the major lackage of posting since my arrival home! This has been one of the most hectic weeks, school-wise, EVER! After a nice sleepless night, some major cramming and extremely rushed power-point makin'...it has come time for me to do a school project that I've actually been looking forward to. That's right, a project I have to do for my Shakespeare class includes food.

It all started with a series of reports my class was assigned to do about Elizabethan England. I was sleepily sitting there listening to the deal about this up-coming project: get into group, remember your citations, yadda, yadda, yadda...UNTIL I had to ask myself: did I really just hear what I think I heard?!? Yes, I did. One of the groups, and therefore topics of these "reports" we had to group up for was food! I got into that puppy A.S.A.P.!

I got even more excited when I was informed that our group had the task of cookin' up samples of Elizabethan recipes for the entire class - this is right up my alley! Maybe I'll even get an outstanding mark for once, too...

The tricky part came when I had to actually decide on what to make for the class...you see...Elizabethan folk didn't really have the greatest tastes in the culinary department...can you say eel pie, stuffed dormice and sparrow brains?

After browsing through this little gem, "Eating Shakespeare" by Betty and Sonia Zyvatkauskas, I finally found something that the class may actually consider consuming.

What I decided on baking up was "a tart to provoke courage". Sounds like a pretty epic little tart, right? Well, upon further research I realized that "courage" also meant "lust" back in the day, and therefore this really should be named "aphrodisiac pie".

I know I'm getting all nerdy on you now, but this is kind of interesting! Elizabethan English believed that not only people, but also food fell under astrological influences. Parsnips fall under Venus' influence - therefore provoking this discussed "courage", apparently!

Anyways, the original recipe is obviously a little bizarre (there is no crust used - it's just a mess of pumpkin-pie-like filling - there are sparrow brains in the recipe, and it requires the strainage of root vegetables, which is something I imagine is messy and unnessesarry), so I went from the modern version in "Eating Shakespeare", and then did a couple more mod's of my own!

I started off by making the pie dough with the recipe that my Mom has used forever. This recipe never fails!

Mom's 7up Pie Dough

5 cups pastry flour
1 lb lard
1 can 7up

Cut the lard into the flour.
When the mixture becomes an oatmeal consistency, pour in the can of 7up and bring the dough together.
Pop in the fridge for an hour before rolling out!

When the dough was in the fridge, I started peelin' and choppin' up a storm, and cubing up the yams (I opted for these instead of sweet potatoes), parsnips, apples and dates. My variation on the original recipe is I used way more yams than parsnips , in an attempt to make this recipe a little less bizarre.

I have such a weakness for dates...

After all the prep work, I piled all the chopped up bits into a giant pot and let it simmer away with apple juice (we didn't have any white wine laying around).

Then I got to work at rolling out the pie dough and cutting it into nice little circles to pop into the little tart shells.

After the yam/parsnip/apple/date/egg/spices mixture had all come together, I spooned it (about 1 tablespoon per tart shell) into my little army of tart shells!

Once the spices and sugar were in the mix it actually started to shape up into something that didn't look all that bad! The house smelled like pumpkin pie, and to the eye, these little puppies looked like pumpkin pie, too! Too bad they weren't little pumpkin pies...

After 30 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees F, these tarts came out perfectly cooked! Much like pumpkin pie, I slid a metal knife into the filling to see if it came out clean.

So, how were these Shakespearian tarts??? Not too bad! They were a little strange (the taste of parsnips that was unavoidable), however asides from that aspect, these were much like healthier little pumpkin pies! Not too bad, Shakespearians...

So my crazy week is finally over. Prepare for more regular posting in the future (and more regular eating on my part, let's hope)!

xoxo

Mariel

Pizzeria Libretto

2010-02-20T13:08:00.000-07:00

Probably the best dinner out I had while in Toronto was at Pizzeria Libretto, in Ossington. Chloaye, Tatomme and I decided to go to this incredible spot on a whim, and I am so happy that we did! I had one of the most unique, incredible and memorable meals at Pizzeria Libretto than I'd had in a while.

The spot itself was gorgeous; packed, loud, beautifully decorated and warm. The restaurant was super long and narrow, which was kind of fun, and made the place really cozy.

The service was incredible, too! We had the most lovely waitress... That always helps so much!

When we finally settled into our table after a decently short wait (apparently there is always a line, and they don't take reservations, either), deciding what to order was an exciting experience! This spot is famous for their authentic neapolitan pizzas, however I'm sure the different "flavours" of pizza were not authentic (in a good way), all the different pizzas they had were so innovative and mouthwatering!

Another thing that was really great about this spot is that everything they serve is made from local, organic, natural ingredients!

Some delicious fresh bread and olive oil and balsamic was quickly delivered at the table, which us girls ate up pretty quickly (we were starving this night, however that is not the only reason the food tasted so good)!

Then I finally decided on what to order. I really wanted to try a bit of everything the menu had to offer, so I went for the "prezzo fisso" menu. It was really reasonable too! A four course meal for $25 dollars. This was especially good because the meal included: an appetizer (you weren't sure what it would be), a salad to start, a whole pizza (which were about $14-20 dollars on their own anyways) and dessert! The dessert addition really drew me in...

My appetizer came out very quickly, which is understandable...

I have to say, when I laid eyes on this scarce little plate I was a little worried about my menu choice. Don't get me wrong here, these little morsels of flavour were delicious...but...just look at it!

It was fun really coaxing myself to savor each bit of food though. All the cured meats are either house-made or locally made, which was nice, too.

Then, I was quickly redeemed by the restaurant when my "salad" made it's way to the table. It was so simple, fresh and delicious. I chose the fingerling potato and celery salad on a bed of Ontario mozzarella di buffala dressed beautifully with extra virgin olive oil and Italian parsley.

Then it was time for the pizza! Tate's came first, and was gorgeous. Tatomme ordered the rapini pizza, which had goat's cheese, black olives and Ontario fiore di latte mozzarella sprinkled on top.

And then it was time for Chloaye and I's pizzas! We ordered the same thing...the duck confit pizza. I am in love with anything duck, so it was an easy choice for me. This beautiful pie was topped with bosc pear and Ontario fiore di latte mozzarella. It was the best pizza I've had in my life.

The crust was impeccable. It was so paper thin, yet somehow felt like it had so much substance to it! I ate the whole pizza and was absolutely stuffed afterwards.

Pizzeria Libretto also provided a delicious "chili oil" which I was obsessed with and doused every slice of my pizza with. Mmm.

Then came the perfect way to finish off the evening, an impeccable bit of tiramisu for dessert. This lovely dessert was not very big, but it made up for it's size in flavour. I have no idea what they did to make their tiramisu so incredible, but it was definitely unique and tasted unlike any other tiramisu (and trust me, I've consumed many) I've ever tasted!

Just when I thought the meal couldn't possibly get any better, our adorable little waitress came over and let us girls know that the manager (I think that's what she said) would like to buy all us girls a little after dinner drink! Thank you for the flirtatious eyes with him all night, Tate! We all got a substantial glass of a delicious red dessert wine, which "went great with chocolate". I cannot remember what it was called though! But that was really fun, and definitely added to my love for the place!

So if you are ever in Toronto, you need to go to Pizzeria Libretto! It was so much fun, and there was such a variety of people there. Couples on dates, girls nights (like our table), tables full of man friends having a good meal together... I loved it! It really would be the perfect date spot, though.

Anyways, I'm off to pack up my things to head back home to Edmonton. This week went by so quickly I can't believe it!

xoxo

Mariel

Drake's Corner Cafe

2010-02-18T09:27:00.001-07:00

Hello from Toronto (still) everyone! I know, I've been slacking on my posts a bit, but Chloaye, Tatomme and I have just been doing so much every single day...the blog has been the last thing on my mind! I thought I'd update you a bit though with what noms are going down in Ontario (there have been quite a few).

Here's one place that is definitely worth mentioning from this trip: Drake's Corner Cafe, which is part of the Drake Hotel on Queen Street West.

To start things off, I have to say that the Drake is one of the most unique and beautiful hotels I've ever seen. We browsed around the lobby and lounge a bit, and Tate informed us that each major section of the hotel is designed by a different artist. It was gorgeous. Since it was the middle of the day, we opted for the hotel's cafe instead of their bar (which was stunning).

The cafe portion was a cute little spot with an inspiring and eclectic food menu, impressive fresh juice list and unique and delicious drinks.

The cafe itself was impressive also, you could definitely feel the emphasis the hotel has on arts and culture in this little spot!

The ceiling was covered with a tangle of old bike pieces, it was beautiful!

To start things off and wake myself up a bit, I had a big cup of coffee that kept on gettin' refilled (often).

After Tatomme's explanation of how she's heard from numerous people that the mac and cheese was incredible at this spot, I had to go for it.

I'm so happy I did! This huge bowl of mac and cheese was made with a perfect homemade 4 cheese sauce, yummy fresh peas, and topped with deliciously flavored bread crumbs (which I love on pasta).

Tatomme and Chloaye both ordered the same thing, Matzo ball soup (I told you it was eclectic), which I tried...and it was incredible.

Drake's Corner Cafe was such a lovely little spot for a nice coffee and bite to eat before heading back out to peruse the numerous vintage shops in the West Queen West neighborhood. And I'm glad I got to snoop around the Drake hotel that I'd heard all about from many people!

I hope you're all enjoying your reading weeks as much as I'm enjoying mine!

xoxo

Mariel

Valentine's Day in Toronto

2010-02-15T12:11:00.001-07:00

Hello lovelies! Get ready to read aaall about my wonderful Valentine's Day spent in Toronto with two lovely women! It was such a good first day in Toronto, from start to finish! Us girls started off our day fairly early, and went out for a nice little Valentine's breakky!

Tatomme took us to the cutest, and busiest little breakfast/brunch spot/hole in the wall I'd ever seen, Aunties and Uncles. We got there at the perfect time as we just missed a HUGE line that formed, practically curving down the street.

See what I mean? This place does NOT look like it would serve incredible breakfast...but looks are deceiving! The line was way past the little white golf you see there at one point!

After a not-too-long wait, we got to enter this adorable little spot! As we fought our way through the crowds of major hipster/scenesters to crawl up the most dangerous set of stairs I've ever climbed, we walked past the tiniest little kitchen I have ever seen! They were whippin' out the food (gigantic servings and all) in this place too! I was impressed.

The interior was a perfectly eclectic blend of bizarre art, 50's/60's diner and just...knick knacks really!

We got a table on the 2nd floor of this two level little restaurant. It was so cozy, you actually felt like you were at your aunty and uncles!

Tucked away in the corner of the upstairs was a cute little sink/counter area where the waitress served up our coffee from. So homey.

Pretty quickly, our food arrived! It looked incredible! All three of us ordered the same thing...because it just sounded too good not to order (I know, we must have looked SO boring).

What we picked was: the omelette of the day which was roasted vegetables and goat cheese, which came with incredible, sweet challah toast, amazing home-made hash browns and "greens"(a yummy little breakfast salad). We ordered some fruit too, which was stewed pears.

I can honestly not get over this toast! It was so, so, melt-in-your-mouth delicious.

To make things even more incredible, they make their own home-made ketchup at Aunties and Uncles. Mmm.

After breakky we went for a brisk stroll down to the Kensington Market area, which I fell in love with.

There were so many adorable vintage shops, unique restaurants and great little health food stores and bakeries!

We wandered into Wanda's Pie in the Sky, which Tatomme told us we "had to see".

This packed little pie shop reminded us of what day it was with adorable little conversation heart sugar cookies!

Loved them.

The pies were so pretty!

Then on our little adventure, we came across the most incredible little kitchen store ever, Good Egg. Stores like this are really detrimental to my wallet...

They even have all sorts of classes going on all the time! This one looks so tempting and right up my alley! I wish I was here for this!

Also, here's a little fact for you! Apparently Rachel McAdams took some knife sharpening/cutting classes at this spot! I liked her even more than I already did after hearing that!

Before I knew it, we were in what I'm sure was "little mexico"...which was filled with dried fruit stores and graffiti-ed alleyways. Don't I have such gorgeous cousins??

After our slightly chilly walk through Kensington, we headed to a grocery store to pick up a good load of groceries for the week!

We got home and were all majorly cravin' some nachos...so we whipped up a large batch.

We made yummy guac with the avocados that Chloaye did end up bringing, and a black bean dip. The salsa we bought...

After we filled up on chips we headed out to a little pub not too far from Tate's place, which had 35 beers on tap. It was difficult to choose!

I finally ended up deciding on a chocolate cherry stout, because it was Valentine's day after all, and I hadn't had any chocolate all day (which is so wrong)! It was a good choice...

It was Sunday evening though, so we packed 'er in fairly early and headed back to Tatomme's place on the trolley.

Such a great, noms-packed day though! I absolutely loved spending Valentine's with my two wonderful cousins! I am really loving my first taste of Toronto. Look forward to many, many more food adventures from over here!

xoxo

Mariel

Mariel's Noms X 1hundo

2010-02-14T16:51:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! So here is that good Noms X 1hundo collaboration post that I promised to make up for the lacking past couple of posts! Friday night Patrick and I whipped up a little dinner, and he of course took the pictures! Here's the results:

We ended up making a beautiful, simple pasta bursting with fresh flavour. It turned out soo yummy.

We started off by making our own meat balls, we kind of just threw the ingredients all together, but I'll give you the approximate amounts of everything we used.

1 pound ground beef

1 egg

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon dried oregano

2 teaspoons italian seasoning

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix all the ingredients together (yes, use your hands)

Form into whatever sized balls you'd like!

Bake until brown and cut with a fork to check the insides!

Super easy.

They turned out pretty tasty, too!

After the meatballs were all formed up and in the oven we started on the sauce and boiling up the water for the pasta. We started with the basics, cuttin' up half an onion and chopping up two cloves of garlic.

Patrick practically deep fried the garlic in olive oil before caramelizing the onions, which was bizarre, but absolutely delish...

Then we tossed a whole can of whole San Marzano tomatoes and their juice into the mix and broke those puppies down with a wooden spoon, and let em' stew for a bit.

Later on, Patrick added a bit of tomato paste to thicken up the sauce, and a hefty dose of salt and pep.

Then towards the end of this sauce's stay in the saucepan, we threw in a good handful chopped fresh basil, frozen peas (we tried to do the whole fresh pea thing, but upon opening up the sugar snap peas we realized there really weren't any peas inside...) and the meatballs.

We used a bizarre little pasta. I'm not quite sure what it was called...but it cooked up super quick and was done in about five minutes!

When the pasta was cooked, we loaded up our bowls and spooned the sauce and meatballs over top, finishing them off with a bit more peppery, delicious basil.

So there you go! A tasty, quick little pasta recipe that is great when you are starving, AND great on the wallet too...

I found myself staring at the cutest little thing (Molly) all dinner! She wanted some pasta too...

Love her!

Such gorgeous pictures of a gorgeous little meal! I am thinking that you should be able to look forward to more collaboration posts in the future! I sure hope that there are more...I love these pictures!

xoxo

Mariel

Sugar-Free Week: Day 5

2010-02-13T11:55:00.000-07:00

Hello lovelies! This will be the saddest post to date, but as I have a 6 hour lay-over in the Calgary airport right now, I figure I should post something.

All I have evidence of eating yesterday is this:

Yep, a good old footlong cold cut combo. I was ravenous, okay? I should mention that this is one of the best subs I've ever had from Subway before (did I finally get to sample some of that "oven fresh" bread I've always heard about?).

Secondly, I should mention: I'm done with sugar-free. This life just isn't for me. I got to five days...kind of. I had a cupcake... It was incredible. I should say though, the past five days have seriously cut back my need for excess sugar! This morning I grabbed a grande pike place roast, and only put 2 packets of "sugar in the raw" in that puppy! I'm really proud of myself. My mad cravings have even disappeared! Am I really on the road to better health?!? Perhaps...we'll see!

I'm sure this week with Chloaye and Tatomme will be good for my eating habits too, as Tatomme is quite the healthy young lady, as you can see on her blog, Cereal Salads. Not to mention that I just received a phone call from Chloaye asking if she should buy a mother load of avocados that just happen to be on sale. If packing a case of juicy avocados all the way across the country doesn't say dedicated healthy lifestyle I don't know what does. I cannot wait to get to Toronto!

Anyways, to make up for this lousy post, you can all look forward to a Mariel's Noms X 1hundo collabo post coming soon! It will be a good one, I promise! Even I am excited to see those gorgeous photos shot by the man himself!

Oh yeah, I guess I should add this: Day 5 of sugar-free week = failed. But that's okay.

xoxo

Mariel

Sugar-Free Week: Day 4

2010-02-12T17:41:00.001-07:00

Hello folks! It's day 4 of the sugar-free week...and surprisingly, is getting easier! I did not think this day would come, but here she is! However I also have a brief correction to make regarding yesterday's post. It turns out that Day 3 may have actually been a big old fail. In my morning rush yesterday, I seemed to have forgotten that the ketchup that I drowned my scrambled eggs with is loaded with the sweet white stuff... Oops.

So here we are on day 4, making adjustments. I had eggs again - but this time I topped them off with a sugar-free alternative - salsa! Not only did this substitution not contain any sug (I checked the label), it was way tastier too! Gave my eggs a little kick. I have a bagel soaked with butter (well, margarine actually) on the side. Here's something else I realized...I'm sure there's a hefty amount of sugar in pretty much all bread products, but I can't live without bread, so I'm just going to pretend that there isn't any sugar in bread... This is my challenge to myself though, and I get to make up the rules...right???

With breakfast I had a double shot of my newfound (newly remembered) savior - espresso. Goes down quick and easy and keeps me going for the day!

Then it was out the door to head to school to try and finish up a whole 1/2 semester's worth of design in 1 and 1/2 days. I love life right now...thank you, past self, for being such a perfectionist and not wholly finishing any one project in design thus far.

I realized when I got to school that I had forgotton my camera! Which I guess wasn't too much of a loss because I didn't eat anything all that interesting at school. One especially pathetic nom that I indulged in was a little can of tuna that I found in my backpack. Upon realization that I was also without fork, I was in no mood to venture far and wide to find one - so I made do. What does this mean, you may ask? Well let's just say if you were wandering the Rutherford library 4th floor on Thursday, you may have seen a girl sadly spooning tuna out of a can with the tuna can lid... It wasn't even a normal can lid. You see...Clover Leaf tuna has apparently switched up all their lids to "easy peel" tops. Good for the difficulty of removal situation. Horrible for the "I forgot a fork" situation. Oh, and I "made do" with the camera situation also...

As you can see. It was one of the most pathetic lunches/snacks ever.

Then, the only other thing I ate this day was a measly little 6" sub from Subway (cold cut combo on Italian herbs and cheese, extra pickles, mustard, mayonnaise, ranch, salt and pepper) mid way through the evening! OH, and I had a late night black coffee with soy milk from Starbucks too (no sugar)! It was so, so much better than Folgers.

So...success? I feel bad calling it a success when I barely ate anything all day! Hopefully I nom a little more tomorrow.

xoxo

Mariel

Sugar-Free Week: Day 3

2010-02-12T17:41:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! So I hate to admit it...but this sugar-free thing is getting harder and harder by the day! Why did I do this again??? Anyways, as much of a challenge it was today...I was still successfully sugar-free (added sugar free, at least).

My day started off with a nice big plate of scrambled eggs (4 eggs, to be exact), and a piece of rye toast with almond/cashew butter (probably the driest thing I've ever eaten).

After breakfast I settled into my little workspace to try and make some progress on my final essay that's due on friday.

Let's just say that didn't go so well... It was really hard with THIS:

Beside me all day...seeing this little cutie snoozing so soundly all day just makes you want to do the same thing...

After a fairly brief nap in the nice afternoon sun, I was hungry again! And desperately craving something sweet...I raided the cupboard to find something that would tide me over for a while, and was very happy to see these:

I had totally forgotten that we had a little stash of "no added sugar" fruit bars. I told you...I love Superstore.

As naturally sweet as the fruit leathers were...it just didn't quite cut it for me, and I ended up nomming on a gigantic handful of dates (boring, I know, but that's as sweet as it gets for the no added sugar world)!

Early in the evening I fixed myself a bizarre "dinner" of Sunny Boy cereal (I diversified from oats)!

I whipped this bowl up in the microwave, and added some chopped dates in as I cooked the cereal.

On top I sprinkled on: hemp seeds, unsweetened shredded coconut and spooned on some almond/cashew butter. Then I doused my Sunny Boy with unsweetened soy milk!

It was okay...a little bland...but filled me up.

Since I can just not bring myself to finish a cup of black coffee in our house (Folgers, I realized we use), I have turned to another source of caffeine that I had totally forgotten about! Espresso!

I poured myself a shot and downed it before I headed out the door to accomplish some mad studying at the university tonight (so much to do, so little time to do it...before TORONTO)! Oh yeah, I'm going to Toronto! I can't wait. Me and Chloaye are going to go visit Tatomme for reading week. Will Toronto be able to handle three Flanagan girls all together? I'm not sure...

Anyways, that was my day in food. Succesful, again (I find it hard to believe myself)!

xoxo

Mariel

Sugar-Free Week: Day 2

2010-02-10T00:58:00.001-07:00

Ola! So here we are on day two...and guess what? I am still successfully sugar-free!

My day started off with a nice bowl of oats this morning. Yes, that's right, I figured out how to make a bowl of oats with no added sugar, that still tastes great! I really needed this bowl to keep me going after my mad essay writing last night.

To make these oats stomach-able I turned to the powers of natural fruit sugars! I started off by cutting up a whole banana and sprinkling that on the oats, then I diced up some all natural Medjool dates and added them to the bowl. Then, I generously spooned on the almond/cashew butter, gave a good dusting of hemp seeds and finished the bowl off with a splash of milk (just good old, normal, 2% milk).

With breakfast I had yet another cup of black coffee...my favorite...

Before I knew it, it was time for lunch and time to head out the door to classes! As I recalled my father's mid morning message "Mariel, I made a sandwich for you, it's in the fridge" I opened the fridge door to find this:

Such a weirdo.

But the sangy (Flanagan for sandwich) was tasty nonetheless. It even had more meat in it than yesterdays (I may or may not have made a complaint...)!

After I scarfed down the sandwich, I ran out the door to catch the bus to head to my classes for today. The classes quickly came and went, and then it was time to meet Patrick downtown to peruse the new Art Gallery of Alberta (something I have been dying to do since it opened)!

It was everything I thought it would be! The architecture of the building alone is a piece of art (it did NOT feel as if we were in Edmonton while wandering around the gallery). The exhibits were pretty over the top as well, and I would have to agree with Patrick on what were my favorites: the Karsh exhibit, and the Murder of the Crows sound installation.

Anyways, back to food! After working up appetites at the art gallery, I was treated to my first ever trip to Furusato Japanese restaurant at 10012 82nd Ave NW. I had read all about this place on various other Edmonton food blogs, and was so excited to be going for myself finally! The master orderer picked three delicious items: assorted vegetable/prawn tempura (it was perfectly battered and super light and crispy, and hot), a delicious (and huge) plate of assorted sashimi (there was such a good variety), and dragon rolls (which combine two of my favorite things, barbecued eel and tempura, into one incredible little piece of maki).

I was obviously a little too absorbed in the eating part as I forgot to take a picture of the impressively artistic dragon roll plate. However, you can check that out (and much, much better photos of everything else) on 1hundo!

So yep, I did it again...no sugar today! Although I have to admit...these cravings are getting stronger and stronger...uh oh. It's nice to have lots of fun things to do though to distract from the lack of sugar in my life! Today was just perfect. Wish me luck for tomorrow!

xoxo

Mariel

Sugar-Free Week: Day 1

2010-02-09T03:06:00.000-07:00

Hello all! So it's the end of my very first sugar free day, boy was adjusting difficult! First of all, I have to say how this is making me realize how much sugar I really do consume on a daily basis...every time I went to reach for a meal or a snack, it was so tough consciously picking something with no sugar in it!

It all started with breakfast. For some reason, at the time, I didn't remember that eggs exist...which would've been the obvious choice. But, with my lack of memory, I whipped up a pretty dry breakfast of white cheddar rice crackers topped with cheddar cheese and cucumber slices, dusted with salt and pepper. With this I had an apple cut into slices, which I dipped into almond/cashew butter. This natural sweet treat is actually so delicious! I was very happy when I read the almond/cashew butter label and saw that there was no added sugar. I don't know if I could live without that stuff!

The worst part of the morning was the black coffee...I just couldn't handle it. I think we may buy really cheap coffee...I guess it does come in 3 pound cans... Anyways, I just couldn't stomach the horrible bitter taste and couldn't finish my morning cup.

Later in the morning I was hungry after my light breakfast, and still a little groggy due to my lack of morning caffeine. A snack was in need! I nommed on a banana, a piece of rye toast with butter and cinnamon on it, and a mug of chai tea with milk only. I needed to get that caffeine into my system!

I love Superstore...

Then came lunch. I was busy working away on my essay that was due at midnight tonight, so I just had a yummy little sandwich that Dad had made for me this morning. I think he used sopressata salami and provolone cheese. With this, I had a big glass of water. By the way, this is another thing I'm going to challenge myself to do during this week of no sugar...I am going to attempt to drink 8 glasses of water a day!

After a day full of fairly light noms all around, it was finally dinner. I could barely wait for dinner tonight! We had an Indian rice/vegetable dish and chicken quickly baked in the oven. It could not get on the table fast enough!

We used a nice mix/paste for the rice and vegetables, it was really good! A little spicy...but tasty.

The package came with a little pouch of a bunch of whole spices and dried herbs to "season" the pan before cooking up the vegetables, I thought that was kind of neat! The pack included a bit of cinnamon, some gigantic bay leaves, anise, and cardamom. It smells wonderful cooking up in the butter!

Then we added in the vegetables that had been marinating in the paste that came in the package. We used green beans, cauliflower and carrots.

When the vegetables are all cooked after a good simmer in the pan, you mix these flavorful veggies with some rice:

And soon enough the chicken was done, too, and dinner was served!

I did it! No sugar today. It was difficult, but it definitely is do-able...I can do this! I even drank the 8 glasses of water today, too! Now only 6 more days to go of this sugar-free lifestyle...

xoxo

Mariel

This Week's Challenge: No Sugar

2010-02-07T22:19:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! So this evening during a particularly slow night at work, I had a lot of time to think. As my mind drifted to cravings of chocolate bars and candy, I realized how much of a sweet tooth I have. Then I started to think about how my levels of sugar consumption probably aren't the healthiest. Then I started to think about the stares I get as I pour sugar into my coffee (for at least a 10 second steady pour) as people line up behind me, waiting for their turn with the sug.

So this is what I am going to do: no sugar for a whole week, no artificial sweeteners, no honey, stevia, nothing!

The only types of sugar that I am allowing myself to consume are going to be that of the natural variety: for example fruits and vegetables. This will be a sort of mini-detox type thing. As far as alcohol goes, all that will be allowed is vodka, whisky, rum etc. and wine! No beer.

And yes, I do realize that this week long challenge will edge into the first weekend of reading week, but I can do it!

I think the hardest things to get used to will have to be: black coffee, fruit as my only source of sweets, NO sweetened up beyond belief oatmeal, and no chocolate!

So prepare yourselves for a week full of documentation, and notes on how unbelievably hard this challenge will be (I just realized this), and what I will be eating instead of sugar. Wish me luck!

xoxo

Mariel

Best Recipe of the Weekend

2010-02-07T13:39:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! So the weekend has come and gone, again. I hope you all had fun! Mine was fairly low key this week, and I loved it.

Food wise, I didn't do (or make) a lot, however I did consume some very delicious meals.

Earlier in the weekend I was treated to some incredible late night snacks and bizarre beer at Sugarbowl (one of my favorite spots, ever). On top of the great food, I didn't even have to blog about it! That job was done impeccably by Patrick on his blog, 1hundo.

Later in the weekend I got to enjoy one of the best comfort food meals that have been served in this household for a while. It was so simple, yet so perfect and delicious. The meal consisted of: a beef stew type of thing, mashed potatoes (oozing with melted butter) and caesar salad (home-made dressing, of course).

Mmm, so good.

The beef we used was probably one of the cheapest roast cuts you could buy, however the cooking method made this beef melt in your mouth. It was honestly the most incredible thing I have ever tasted, you could compare the texture of the beef to soft, white bread (that's how tender it was)!

Beef Stewed in Beer with Gravy

1/2 kilo inside round roast, cut into bite size pieces

olive oil

salt and pepper

garlic

1 can of beer (we used Heineken)

1/4 cup butter

all purpose white flour

Brown the beef stove-top in a large sauce pan or skillet with enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan.

Add in the salt and pepper, and garlic.

Once the beef is nicely browned, pour in your can of beer.

Pop a lid on the pan or saucepan, and let the beef simmer for 2 hours on low to medium low heat.

After 2 hours, make a gravy by melting butter in a separate, small saucepan.

To the melted butter, slowly whisk in flour until you have a nicely thickened sauce (the consistency is up to you and how you like your gravies).

Next, spoon some of the hot cooking liquid from the saucepan containing the beef, into the butter/flour mixture.

Then, when you have a smooth gravy, slowly pour this into the center of the pan containing the beef, stirring quickly.

Only add enough of your gravy mixture as you'd like.

Enjoy!

For the mashed potatoes, a good trick to keep from obtaining "gluey" potatoes is to heat up your milk, butter, cream (or whatever you are adding to your potatoes) before you add it to the potatoes. It really works! You will never have gluey mashed potatoes again.

Real Caesar Salad Dressing

2 egg yolks

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons chopped garlic

4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

3 teaspoons lemon juice

dash of Worcestershire sauce

2 cups olive oil

2 tablespoons warm water, if necessary

1 cup parmesan

Place egg yolks, mustard, anchovies, garlic, vinegar, lemon juice and worcestershire sauce into a bowl or food processor (or magic bullet, in our case).

Mix with a whisk, or blend the ingredients together.

Slowly in a slow pouring stream, add the olive oil until fully incorporated.

If the dressing gets too thick, add warm water and then continue until all the oil is added.

Add parmesan and continue to mix.

Makes 1 1/2 cups of dressing.

The chef was quite pleased with herself about this meal, not a scrape of food was left!

Well, now it's time to get back to working on 1 of my 3 essays due very, very shortly! Enjoy the rest of your Sundays!

xoxo

Mariel

Cinnamon Toast Oats

2010-02-05T11:02:00.000-07:00

Good morning everyone! The weekend is almost here (even though I've pretty much devoted my entire weekend to studying...how fun...)! So that's the good news. The bad news is that it is absolutely freezing out (I find)! Whenever it's cold out like today I always crave one thing, and one thing only, for breakfast. Can you guess what it is??

Today's spin on oats is a nice little junk cereal twist. I know, not the most healthy twist on oats ever...but it was filling and different! So I was satisfied.

I started off with plain oats (always done up in the microwave...to work with my very tight morning schedule...I have a habit of sleeping in a bit), and then added brown sugar and butter (I really loaded it on this morning).

Next I sprinkled on a good handful of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal! I don't know why, I just thought it might taste alright! And it DID (very good, actually)!

Then I finished off the bowl with white chocolate chips (because apparently Cinnamon Toast Crunch just isn't sweet enough for me?), and a hefty splash of almond milk!

After breakfast I wandered out into the cold to get to my first class, Shakespeare. I forgot to have my coffee this morning though, so it turned out to be a another hour-long nap to the sounds of my professor's little Welsh accent...

I'm off to go get myself a cup of coffee now though! I hope you all have wonderful weekends!

xoxo

Mariel

A Little Overdue...My Trip to Bul Go Gi House

2010-02-03T19:39:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone! I've got a little overdue post here for you today, from a recent trip to one of my favorite Edmonton spots to eat, Korean restaurant Bul Go Gi House. This place single handedly turned me into a spicy food lover (kind of), as well as a kimchi addict!

I stuffed myself beyond belief at this place with two lovely ladies visiting from Cranbrook, Katie and Sarah! It was so fun catching up, and of course, SO DELICIOUS! I hadn't been to Bul Go Gi in so long! It's always such a treat.

The service is always so incredibly fast (I have absolutely no idea how they do it) and friendly. The kimchi and marinated bean sprouts are the best I've ever had, and perhaps one of my favorite qualities of this restaurant: the servings are HUGE!

We ordered quite a bit of food for three young girls...

As soon as we ordered, a nice serving of kimchi, bean sprouts and sticky rice was quickly tossed our way (all three items keep on comin' all meal long, by the way). I feasted on this kimchi like a ravenous beast! I get cravings for Bul Go Gi's kimchi all the time, it was so nice to finally (temporarily) satisfy those cravings!

Very shortly after, the wonton soup we had ordered arrived. The soup here is incredible, the broths are all slightly peppery, which is so delicious and unique. Also, the wontons are gigantic!

Next on the menu was something I had never tried here before: deep fried vegetables. They were practically a Korean hybrid of Japanese tempura and sweet potato/yam/potato fries. Amazing! They came with an extra flavorful soy type sauce to dip them in. There was also no shortage of these bad boys, which made me very happy.

Then came a tasty basic: stir fried beef and vegetables. Perfectly seasoned and cooked to perfection (tender beef and slightly crunchy vegetables, mmm).

Then came another first: deep-fried chicken! We ordered this dish just because we were curious about what Korean deep fried chicken actually was...and I was very pleasantly surprised! It tasted more like a Chinese lemon chicken dish, but a little different...it had more of a sweet honey/less acidic taste to it. It was so, so addictive. I will definitely be ordering this dish again!

Here's my plate full of amazing food! I had about 5-6 servings this size...

So there it is! This is a casual, delicious Edmonton spot that I would definitely recommend. Also, don't be afraid when you pull up to Bul Go Gi! It is a little sketchy looking on the outside...but is not nearly as bad on the inside! And it's the food that is really the draw to this spot, which says a lot in my books! If you plan on going on a Saturday night be prepared to wait a little bit!

It was so nice to chat and laugh and catch up with wonderful people over delicious food. That is another reason why I think I am so obsessed with anything and everything food related...it's not only the flavors that make it so special, it's the power it has to bring people together!

xoxo

Mariel

Lentil Soup with Sausage

2010-02-02T19:33:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Today was such a chilly day in Edmonton, kind of damp and cold and overall just a little unpleasant! For dinner tonight we had the perfect antidote for the weather: a gorgeous, hot bowl of hearty Lentil Soup with Sausage. The recipe is from a favorite old recipe book at our house...Cosmic Soups! I think my parents got this gem as a wedding present...

Anyways, it had been quite some time since I had consumed a classic bowl of soup like this, and after dinner tonight all I could ask myself was: how come it had been so long?!? This soup was delicious!! It was perfectly seasoned (all from following the recipe exactly, no adjustments were needed) and steamy!

Lentil Soup with Sausage

Prep time: 2 hours

2 cups lentils

2 quarts stock (beef, chicken or vegetable)

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

2 large cloves of garlic, crushed

1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder

1/8 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried basil leaves

1/2 to 1 pound turkey sausage

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 [4 oz.] can tomato sauce

2 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced

salt and pepper

Rinse the lentils well.

Simmer lentils in the 2 quarts of stock for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Remove from heat before the lentils lose their shape.

In 2 tablespoons of olive oil saute: onion, celery, garlic, sausage, basil, curry, cumin, and parsley.

Add the sautéed ingredients to the lentils along with the tomato sauce and white wine.

Simmer for 1/2 hour, and salt and pepper to taste!

I swear I did not make this recipe book myself! It's a bizarre little home-y thing...

But sure has some great recipes!

The only tip I could give you about this lovely soup is use spicy Italian sausages and take off the sausage casing! Theres nothing worse than the look of a cut up sausage with the casing still on...Enjoy!

xoxo

Mariel

More Oats???

2010-02-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

Hello! So, I had oats, again. But in a whole new way, again. I can never do repeats of bowls of oats, ever, no matter how delicious they turn out! This morning's bowl was one of the tastiest creations yet (almost up there with the Christmas oats, from December). I'm not quite sure what to call this bowl, but I will tell you what I loaded into it!

The inspiration for this bowl was the box of Family Digestives I found lurking in the pantry!

I have had the BIGGEST sweet tooth lately, so of course the thin layer of chocolate on the cookies was not enough to satisfy my craving. To sweeten up my oats even more, I loaded on the cashew butter, chocolate hazelnut spread and one of my favorite things ever, dulce de leche.

And of course, almond milk!

The cookies in the oats were so delicious, they sopped up the almond milk and were all soft and melty and amazing!

The excess of chocolate and rich caramel did not hurt either! Yum. Anyways, enjoy your monday everyone!

xoxo

Mariel

The Best Apple I've Ever Had

2010-02-01T10:28:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

You know how you can get into a rut of purchasing the same things over and over again, without even realizing it?? Well, I was in one of those ruts (for quite some time) with my selection of apples...until yesterday. Before my boring-apple-revelation all I would ever consume were either Gala, or Fuji (which are perfectly fine varieties, by the way...but nothing to get too excited about). Yet deep down I was always craving something more...something crispier, less tart, and juicier. Well folks I have found it...the perfect apple!

Let me introduce you to the most incredible piece of fruit that has ever passed through my lips...the Pacific Rose apple!

Imagine the crisp juiciness of an apple pear, minus the painful acidity that goes along with it.

Now imagine a delightfully sweet, but not too sweet, purely apple flavor. I'm in love! I honestly do not think I will switch varieties for a while now (yes, another rut...but a good rut)...these little beauties of nature are absolutely incredible. Pacific Rose is the perfect eating apple. However, I bet they would be wonderful in baking too...

I just needed to let the world know about these little gems. I hope you enjoyed my apple rant!

xoxo

Mariel

Comfort in Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-01-30T14:35:00.001-07:00

Have you ever had one of those crazy days where you feel like you've got absolutely nothing under control?? Well, I had one of those today! Let's just say it included cramming to finish an essay for 2 PM today, only to find out it's due NEXT thursday, missing a few buses and getting a little case of "sports induced asthma" (from running across campus from the bus terminal to "hand in my essay")...

So when I got home, wheezy and still feeling like my head wasn't on my shoulders, I plopped down on the couch to endulge in my favorite comfort activity: watching the food network. And guess what?! One of my favorite comfort shows ever was just starting when I flipped on the T.V., Michael Smith's Chef at Home! Things were starting to look up! And even better, his theme for this afternoon is: COMFORT FOOD!

First on the menu came "the perfect chocolate chip cookie". I had to try out the recipe (and was majorly craving chocolate, too). Don't you find that you're always on the hunt for the perfect chocolate chip cookie? I do, and let me tell you, this recipe comes pretty close to perfection in my books (the best I've ever produced, at least)!

Michael Smith's Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1 tablespoon corn syrup

1 egg

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 salt

1 cup (or more) chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Mix all the wet ingredients together thoroughly until smooth (the sugar, butter, corn syrup, egg, and vanilla).

Mix the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl, and then mix them into the wet.

Finally, fold in the chocolate chips!

Drop by spoonfuls onto a greased or parchment papered cookie sheet.

Bake for 12 minutes EXACTLY (Michael really stressed this one...he said it's the last key to the perfect cookie)!

Enjoy!

xoxo

Mariel