Flavour Infused Sea Salts and Vodka

For presents this year I made flavour infused sea salts and vodka. For the sea salts I made three flavours: vanilla, citrus, and chili. For the vodka I made espresso. I designed the tags on my computer and printed on recycled cardstock, hole-punched them and used twine to attach the labels to the containers, which can be purchased at any cooking or craft store!

Citrus Salts
Sea Salt
Lemon
Orange

Simply grate the lemon and orange zest. Let it dry for a few minutes and combine well with the sea salt.


Vanilla Salts
sea salt
2 vanilla beans
unrefined sugar

Split the vanilla beans lengthwise. Scrape out all the sticky seeds and use your fingers to combine well with the sea salt. Add half amount of unrefined sugar as sea salt and mix well.


Chili Salts
sea salt
4 dried whole chilis
dash of paprika
ground peppercorn

crush the chilis with your fingers and sprinkle in with the sea salt. Combine freshly ground peppercorns and mix well. Add a dash of paprika for colour.







Espresso Vodka
Vodka
Espresso beans
Cheesecloth
funnel

Lightly grind the espresso beans and wrap in cheesecloth. Tie very tightly to ensure none of the ground beans escape into the vodka (if this does happen however, you can filter it out later). I let the beans soak for about three days in a mason jar but you can use whatever container you like. Remove cheesecloth and beans from vodka and pour into bottle using a funnel. You can also sift the vodka through a layer of cheesecloth if any of the grounds happened to escape into the liquor during the process!

Apple Cashew Curry With Coconut Rice

This is one of my favourite dishes... vegan friendly too!

Ingredients
1 cup jasmine rice
1 can coconut milk
3 fresh lime slices
cilantro
cashews
broccoli
1/2 can baby corn
1 granny smith apple sliced
olive oil
2 tablespoons red curry paste
cumin
salt
garlic powder
onion powder
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon fresh chopped ginger

1. Cook the rice with half water and half coconut milk.

2. Heat olive oil in frying pan. Add cashews, broccoli, apple slices, and corn.

3. Slowly stir in remaining coconut milk. Add ginger, red curry paste, brown sugar, cilantro and squeeze 2 of the lime wedges in. Add cumin, salt, garlic powder, and onion powder to taste. You might even want to add more curry paste depending on how strong you like it!

4. Let simmer until flavours are well blended. Serve rice separate from curry and topped with a cilantro twig and lime slice!

Witch Finger Pretzels

I made these witch finger pretzels from the Martha Stewart Halloween Handbook, and they turned out amazing! I also made a cheese sauce for dipping.

Recipe for pretzels can be found here

Cheese Sauce
white wine
smoked gouda
cheddar cheese
flour
salt and pepper

In a pot, cook wine over medium heat. Stir in grated cheddar and gouda until melted. Add flour until the sauce is semi-thick and a good consistency for dipping. Salt and pepper to taste.

Harvest Curry - Vegan Friendly!

This warm and spicy curry is the perfect meal for those particularly grey days. Incorporating harvest vegetables makes this not only delicious, but cheap too. Did I mention it's vegan friendly as well!?

Ingredients
acorn squash
butternut squash
pumpkin
yam
lentils
curry paste
cumin/tumeric/salt
almond/soy milk
olive oil
ginger

1. Chop the squash, pumpkin, and yams into bit sized pieces. Heat some olive oil in a pan with some diced ginger and add the chopped veggies. Fry for several minutes until the veggies are well cooked and soft.

2. Add almond milk (I don't use measurements when cooking certain meals, I tend to go by taste and also by amount of people I'm cooking for. Just use your best judgement and taste as you go along!)

3. Stir in a couple spoonfuls of curry paste. I like my curry extra spicy so you may not use as much as I would. Just add it slowly and keep tasting. I also add extra cumin/tumeric powder and a pinch of salt!

4. Once the curry is well mixed with the veggies and almond milk, stir in the the lentils. Let simmer until flavours have blended well and the curry has thickened up.

halloween movie night

One of my favourite things about October is... Halloween! Halloween is my favourite holiday and I love hosting festive events. Last night I had a Halloween Movie Night and decided I would post my own "how-to." So! Here it is, my very own step by step on how to host your own Halloween movie night, complete with decorations, snacks, drinks and movie recommendations!

The Decorations



A nice simple table centerpiece. One medium sized pumpkin with little pumpkins and squashes (found at any grocery store or even better, a pumpkin patch!) The black sticks I made simply by collecting dead twigs, pulling off any remaining leaves, and spray painting them all completely black.




These ghosts were made with nothing but an old sheet, stuffing, some rope and a black marker. I cut the sheet into individual squares and stuffed them with newspaper (you can use anything, cotton would be the best but newspaper does work too!) and tied a rope around their necks. Make sure to leave a bit of rope dangling to hang them up. Draw their faces on with black sharpie and tie them to the ceiling with tacks.




Silhouettes are a super simple but really cute decoration... I decided to make bats! I drew them onto black foam paper and cut them out with scissors. It's a little time consuming but something to do while watching TV or a movie.


The Movies

First of all, decide if you want to watch classic horror films, scary creepy thrillers, Halloween favourites, or gory comedies. Classic horror films include anything from the 50's, 60's, or 70's... House on Haunted Hill, Night of the Living Dead, The Shining, etc. If you're looking for something a little more scary, more modern horrors like Silence of the Lambs, or even more recent, movies like 28 Days Later are a good choice. Halloween favourites like Beetlejuice or Nightmare Before Christmas are usually appreciated by everyone. Personally my favourites are the gory, horror-spoofs like the Evil Dead trilogy.




The Drinks



Halloween martinis are yummy and look awesome. All you need is:

-vodka
-sprite
-lime juice
-ice cube trays
-gummy worms
-food colouring

I was able to find black food colouring from Michaels to make these drinks, but any colour (lime green, red, etc) will work. Make sure to prepare the ice cubes the day before by freezing the gummy worms right inside the trays. Place one gummy worm ice cube into a martini glass with one shot of vodka. Fill the remaining space with sprite and squeeze a couple good squirts of lime juice in. And last but not least, add a few drops of food colouring!


The Snacks



-popcorn
-margarine
-sugar
-salt
-candy corns

We made candy corn popcorn! Pop some kernels on the stove in a large pot with some oil, shaking constantly to prevent burning. Once the corn is all popped, throw about 2 tbsp margarine and 3-4 tbsp sugar into the microwave until nicely melted and mixed together. Pour over the popcorn, sprinkle some salt, and add the candy corn. This makes a really yummy sweet and salty combination.

And that's it! All you need to know on how to put on your own Halloween movie night :)

Tofu Nuggets With Fries & Black Bean Gravy

I decided to create my own, somewhat healthy, vegan version of chicken nuggets and fries with gravy. I think the black bean gravy is my new favourite thing to eat right now. So tasty!



Ingredients

tofu nuggets
pressed tofu
bread crumbs
margarine
bragg/maggi seasoning
salt and pepper
vegetable stock
onion powder
chopped parsely

seasoned fries
potatoes (1 per person)
seasoned salt
cracked pepper
cooking oil

black bean gravy
half can black beans
2 cups vegetable stock
bragg/maggi seasoning
corn starch
salt and pepper
onion powder

How to Prepare Tofu Nuggets:
1. Cut the tofu into medium sized squares. Mix the maggi or bragg, salt and pepper, vegetable stock, parsley and onion powder in a bowl. Place the tofu in the mixture and let soak for at least two hours.

2. Once the tofu is marinated, dip each piece into a bowl of bread crumbs with salt and pepper. Cook them on a pan with margarine on medium heat until each side is golden brown.




How To Prepare Seasoned Fries:
1. Wash and cut potatoes into long, thin, fry-shaped pieces. Lightly sprinkle with seasoned salt and pepper.

2. Coat a baking pan with cooking oil. Place the fries on evenly and bake in the oven at 350 degrees. Flip and/or shake fries every five minutes or so and cook until golden brown.




How To Prepare Black Bean Gravy
1. Cook vegetable stock, bragg seasoning, onion powder, and salt and pepper in a saucepan under medium heat.

2. Blend the vegetable stock mixture and the black beans in a blender until well mixed and smooth.

3. Place mixture back in saucepan and simmer under medium-low heat. Add cornstarch if necessary to achieve the consistency you want.

Pesto & Artichoke Pasta

Here is the pasta version of the pesto pizza I posted in my previous post. I created this using the leftovers and some extra ingredients. Needless to say, it turned out quite delicious! I could have sworn I could almost taste parmesan cheese in it.

Ingredients
Pesto (click here for recipe)
1/2 cup soy milk
2 tbsp melted margarine
pasta noodles
salt and pepper
1 clove garlic
artichokes
tofu "chicken" pieces

Basically mix the soy milk, margarine, salt, pepper, garlic and pesto together in a saucepan until well heated/mixed. Pour over boiled pasta noodles. Add artichokes and tofu chicken. Voila!

Pesto Pizza

I've been craving pizza lately, so I decided to attempt to make my own vegan version. I was nervous at first because I was completely experimenting with something I've never really tried before, but it actually turned out to be really yummy!

ingredients
1 cup fresh basil leaves
3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup & a tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
2 tbsp pine nuts
thin pita shells
artichoke hearts
asparagus
tofu "chicken" slices
bragg seasoning
cumin
tumeric
brown sugar
1 cup chopped spinach

1. To make the pesto sauce, simply throw the basil leaves, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, and pine nuts into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth and creamy.

2. Cook the "chicken" lightly in a frying pan with the bragg seasoning, cumin, tumeric and brown sugar.

3. Spread the pesto sauce evenly over the pita shells. Add the "chicken", asparagus, and artichoke. Sprinkle the spinach on top as if it were cheese.

4. Bake in the oven at 350 until the pita's are crispy and brown, around ten minutes.

Sushi

Going out for sushi is one of my favourite things to do. I love how aesthetically pleasing it looks and how delicious it tastes.









I attempted to make my own vegan version of tempura and my boyfriend said it was one of the best tempuras he's had. It's super easy to make as well.

Tempura is something that even sushi-haters can most likely enjoy. Who doesn't like deep fried things, am I right? I came up with this idea for a tempura potluck - everyone brings one vegetable of choice - and then tempura it all in a giant pot for one big feast! Cheap and delicious. Some of my favourites include: yams, potato, carrots, red onions, asparagus, avocado, and eggplant. You can also tempura shrimp, pork, chicken, etc, for those who eat meat.


ingredients
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup ICE water
3 tbsp vegetable oil
oil for frying
mixed veggies, any kind

Mix the flour, salt, sugar and baking soda together. Once mixed, slowly add the iced water and oil until smooth and creamy. Put a big pot on medium-high with a decent amount of oil (enough for tempura to be mostly submerged). Drop a small dollop of batter into the oil, and if it cooks within seconds, it's ready. Carefully drop each vegetable into the batter and then into the pot of oil. Cook for a few seconds until lightly browned. Place the finished tempuras into a dish lined with paper towel to help soak up excess grease.

Cinnamon Apple Rolls

I apologize for not updating this blog in almost a month! It was my last week of university, so I was overwhelmed with school projects and getting everything organized for my next step in life. I'm currently in the process of moving to the city as well. I took a break from packing boxes to post an entry for you guys :)

I had some left over phyllo pastry in my freezer I wanted to use up, and some apples that were about to get too ripe, so I put two and two together to create this:

Cinnamon Apple Rolls

apples
cinnamon
brown sugar
margarine
phyllo pastry

Simply lay the phyllo pastry out flat and brush with melted margarine and cut into strips about two inches wide. Combine the apples, cinnamon and sugar in a bowl. Once well mixed, place the apples onto the top half one of the phyllo strips, make sure there is space on each side. Roll the strip like you would a sushi roll. Tie the ends closed and brush them with margarine to keep them from unrolling. Sprinkle some brown sugar on top, put in the oven at 350 until they are golden brown!

Vegan Cookies & Pomegranate Raspberry Iced Tea

For lunch yesterday I decided to try to make the healthy, gluten-free vegan cookies featured on 101cookbooks.com and add my own little twist. The original recipe can be found here and the following recipe below is my own, altered version of these seriously delicious cookies.



Gluten-Free Vegan Cookies

3 large mashed bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 cup olive oil
2 cups rolled oats (gluten free oats for those who are gluten-intolerant)
2/3 cup almond meal or ground almonds
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp peanut butter
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. To make almond meal you can grind the almonds yourself. Simply grind them in a food processor or in a coffee grinder until they have the texture of sand like the image below.



3. In a large bowl, combine the bananas, vanilla, oil, brown sugar and peanut butter. In another bowl, mix together the oats, almond meal, cinnamon, salt and baking powder. Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture, stirring well. Once mixed, add in the chocolate chips.

4. Drop medium sized dollops of dough onto a greased baking sheet.

5. Bake for about 13-15 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown.



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

White Pomegranate Raspberry Iced-Tea

1 pomegranate raspberry tea bag
1 white tea bag
ice cubes
chilled jug of water
lemon syrup
honey
2 orange slices

1. Fill a jug with water and chill in the fridge beforehand.

2. Boil some hot water and steep both tea bags for a good 10 to 15 minutes or until the tea is very strong.



3. Add the hot tea to the chilled water jug and also add some ice cubes. Add in a couple of squirts of lemon syrup and 2 tablespoons or so of honey. Stir well. Squeeze one orange slice into the iced tea and save the other one for garnish.

Cinnamon Roasted Granola

Thanks for your suggestions in my last entry. I am going to keep my blog as is instead of separating them. :)

Also, how do you like my new banner!? I made it this morning. I also have to start hosting my images elsewhere because my flickr account is at it's maximum amount and I can't afford a plus account. I hope it doesn't effect the quality of the images too much!

------------------------

I hardly ever eat breakfast, but when I do, this is a favourite. This recipe is super easy, delicious and nutritious!




3/4 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup granola
1/4 cup mixed nuts
fresh fruit of your choice (I chose peaches and raspberries)
spoonful of margarine

1. Put the granola in a pan with the butter and nuts and cook until it is nice and brown.
2. Put the cooked granola in a bowl. Start cooking the soy milk, honey, and cinnamon. Heat until almost boiling, then remove from heat.
3. Pour the milk over the granola. Top it off with the fresh fruit and berries!

Recipe and Feedback.

I was wondering, do you guys think I should keep this blog as being the sort of miscellaneous-inspirational blog that covers all aspects of what I enjoy, or should I separate it into two blogs, one covering the fashion/art/photography and the other strictly dedicated to food and recipes? I was just thinking about this because I know that food blogs and fashion blogs are so different from each other, not everyone enjoys the two like I do!

I also know this blog is just starting out, which is why I'm asking, because I think that it would be easiest if I decide to go through with this when the blog is still young and developing.

Tell me, what do you think?

------------------------------------------

In other news, I made a delicious pasta sauce tonight. No photos unfortunately, but here is the recipe!

*note: I apologize now for the lack of measurements. I made this sauce up a while ago and I've never really considered measurements. So these are only estimated amounts!*

1 cup pasta noodles of your choice
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
sprinkle or two of oregano
cornstarch
1 cup milk
3/4 cup grated havarti cheese
sprinkle of parmesan
garlic (amount depends on preferred strength of the sauce)

1. Cook the olive oil and butter in a pan until it is well melted. Sprinkle in some oregano and lower the heat.
2. Add a cup of milk. The oil and milk will separate, but don't panic!
3. Add in a little bit of the cheese. Stir constantly and do not add more cheese until the first bit is melted.
4. Once all the cheese is melted, let the sauce simmer for a good ten minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Add a little bit of cornstarch to help thicken the sauce (only needed if sauce isn't as thick as you would like. If you like the consistency, skip this step!)
6. The last step is to add the garlic. Let it simmer for a while longer to let the garlic soak in but not burn. The sauce by now should have mixed together, if the oil is still separating from the milk then keep simmering until it stops.

Add the sauce to your freshly boiled pasta and sprinkle with parmesan!

Chocolate Cream Meringues

These are seriously the most delicious things ever and super easy to make.



ingredients
1 cup casters sugar (or one cup granulated sugar if you want to make your own. I tell you how in step 2)
4 egg whites
1/4 cup chocolate chips/chunks
1 mini carton of whipped cream
spoonful of milk
icing sugar


1. Separate the egg whites. It's easiest to separate the whites from the yolks when the eggs are cold. However, it's easier to whip the whites when they are room temperature, so leave the whites (wrapped the bowl in cellophane) out for about 20 minutes.

2. If you don't have casters sugar, it's super easy to make. Simply put the cup of white sugar in a food processor for a moment until it creates a smaller grained, more powdery sugar. If you don't have a food processor, you can use a coffee grinder! If you use a coffee grinder however, make sure to rinse it out and dry it before using. Also do not put the whole cup of granulated sugar in at once. Just add a bit at a time! It should look like the photo below.



3. Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Once the egg whites are room temperature, mix them in a bowl on high speed until white peaks form. Then slowly begin to add the sugar, a little bit at a time. Make sure that all the sugar is completely mixed in before adding anymore. Beat for five minutes until thick and glossy like the photo below.



4. Spray a cooking pan lightly with oil or margarine. With a spoon, place a dollop of meringue on the pan. Cook for about 20-25 minutes until meringues are firm, crisp and golden.



5. While the meringues are cooking you can prepare the whipped cream. Simply whip the cream until it begins to thicken, add the icing sugar to taste. Keep whipping until it is quite thick and fluffy (runny cream won't work well!)



6. Let the meringues cool and place a spoonful of whipped cream on the flat side of one meringue. Take a second meringue and squish it to the whipped cream side like you would an oreo cookie.



7. Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler. You can easily make one by filling a big pot with water and placing a second smaller pot inside. Turn the stove on to medium and wait until the water is almost boiling before adding the chocolate chips and spoonful of milk. Lower the heat and stir constantly until the chocolates are melted, then drizzle the chocolate onto each meringue.




note: if you manage to not eat yourself sick with these, make sure to put the remaining ones in the fridge so the whipped cream doesn't melt!

Honey Roasted Peaches

Fresh peaches (if in season, if not canned peaches work fine. I used canned)
Honey
Cottage Cheese
Brown sugar
Coffee Beans

Preheat oven to 400F and place the peaches in a baking pan. Drizzle honey on top and bake for about ten minutes. Blend coffee and sugar for a second in a coffee grinder so that the beans are still coarse. Sprinkle coffee and sugar onto peaches with a scoop of cheese!

I had this for lunch today with a cup of herbal honey tea and it was delicious.