Stuffed Peppers

I decided to make a curry brown rice filling, with tomatoes, the tops of the peppers, green onion, and sausages.  I just threw all of the ingredients into the rice cooker.   (I made some extra rice to put into a tortilla for lunch the next day).

I then prepared the peppers (cut off the tops and hollowed them out).  When the rice was ready, I filled the peppers, topped them with cheese, and baked them for about 25 minutes until the peppers were cooked through.  That's it!

I also made some white asparagus since the oven was on anyways.  I just tossed them with a bit of olive oil and topped them with breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese, and baked for about 15 minutes.

Anniversary Dining

We started our day with a nice, healthy breakfast complete with hello kitty toast and mimosas.  Note the new cast iron pan!  Now every time bits of the pan come off I can be excited to get more iron instead of being worried about the toxins from teflon coating.  I gave the pan to Aki as a present (along with a vacuum - exciting presents, I know).  He then proceeded to accidentally light the pan on fire.  A big fire too - I thought I was going to have to get out the fire extinguisher. 

Next, we had some delicious wine we saved from our Niagara trip in June for this special day.  It is a Malivoire 2009 Courtney Gamay.

Finally, we ended the night at Bistro 990 and shared a baked alaska.  This was the first time I have had this and it was pretty good!

Lychee

Lychee is one of my friend's favourite fruit.  It is also very trendy these days! 

Longan ("dragon eye") fruit are pretty similar, but I don't have either often enough to be able to tell you the differences in taste.  Picture from Wikipedia.

Also, rambutan I believe are closely related to longan.  They look pretty nifty!  I think I have only had them once, and can't seem to remember how they taste.  Picture from Wikipedia. 

Yikes - this isn't a very good blog.  I will post it anyways.

Edamame

Edamame is trendy these days.  (Although spell check is suggesting the word "damaged" instead).  You can buy them frozen and boil them quickly right from frozen, for a quick and healthy snack.  It is nice to make a little dip to go along with it, consisting of minced garlic, soya sauce, and sesame oil (dip recipe stolen from Liz).  Easy peasy!

Butter Chicken!

Yum!  This is a very good recipe.  It may not be authentic, but it is still very tasty and quite easy to make (but you do have to have a lot of spices on hand).  First, chop up 2 chicken breasts or legs into small pieces and coat with a bit of flour.  Then fry with 1 chopped onion until both are cooked.  Remove from stove and set aside.  Mix 1 can tomato paste, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup plain yogurt, 2 tbsp butter, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 1 1/2 tbsp minced ginger, 1 1/2 tbsp crushed garlic, 1 tsp garam masala or curry powder, 1 tsp chilli powder, 1 tsp ground cumin, and 1 bay leaf, in a saucepan on low heat for 7 minutes.  Add cooked chicken and onion into the sauce and simmer for a couple of minutes.  Serve with rice or naan.  This recipe is adapted from allrecipes.com.

I had leftovers the next day and used it as filling in a tortilla, along with the leftover rice, and tomato, lettuce, and plain yogurt (in place of sour cream).  It was most excellent!

Thai Yamunsen

Whew, last catch-up post!  I haven't blogged in a while besides yesterday (increased work productivity = decreased blogging) and had collected 8 food photos to post, but this is the last of them.  Aki made this for me as a surprise (<3) and it was so delicious!  It is a cold vermicelli salad.  I am not sure what recipe he used, but I would guess it is this one:
http://www.latortuga.com/cuisine/Entremetier/PH-ThaiStirredBeanThread.html

A Healthy Salad

This salad was made the day after I made the sandwiches in order to use up all of the leftovers.  I also added a can of mixed beans for protein and to make it more filling.  Also, I am trying to use up all of my canned goods because I just learned that canned goods actually do expire.  Who knew?  Not me!  A nice touch was the bruschetta topping leftover from the sandwiches - no dressing required!

Curry Zucchini Soup

I wasn't originally going to post this, but it turned out really well.  Wow, it was so delicious which surprised me because it doesn't actually look that appetizing, and it was made of such few and simple ingredients.  It was good both hot or cold, which is great given the hot days we have been having!  The recipe is from allrecipes.com.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• sea salt to taste
• 4 small zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into 1 inch slices
• 1 quart chicken stock

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large pot. Stir in the onion, and season with curry powder and salt. Cook and stir until onion is tender. Stir in zucchini, and cook until tender. Pour in the chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 20 minutes.
2. Remove soup from heat. Use a hand blender, or transfer in batches to a blender, and blend until almost smooth.

Stir Fry

I made this stir fry to use up the red pepper and snap peas, and it ended up being delicious!  It made me wonder why I don't make them more often.  I added in some chicken because I am trying to eat more protein and use up all of the items in the freezer - so that accomplished both of those things.  :)  The shitaki mushrooms are just from a can, but if you have a chance, eat the fresh ones because they are soooooo good (especially with a bit of butter...MMM!).  The sauce is just soya sauce, fish sauce, garlic....I think that's it.

Tripe Stew

I went to Taste of Little Italy a while back (which should really be called Taste of College Street since there were all types of food there), and had some delicious tripe stew.  I decided to venture into the scary meat section in a grocery store in Chinatown and purchase some honeycomb tripe to make the stew.  It turned out pretty well, but I would definitely recommend cooking the tripe a lot less than the instructions told me to (i.e., cook it less than 2 hours), so that it retains its nice chewy texture.

http://www.suite101.com/content/beef-honeycomb-tripe-stew-recipe-a174651

Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki is a Japanese dish, and is basically a cabbage pancake.  You make it similarly to how to you make latkes, by chopping up the cabbage thinly, and adding flour and egg so that it sticks together.  Aki also added a grated Japanese potato as well.  You then fry them up, and top with Okonomiyaki sauce, Japanese mayonnaise, seaweed flakes, Bonito (fish) flakes, and pickled ginger. 

Kale Chips

I bought this kale from Kensington Market because it was purple.  I removed the stocks, and washed and dried the kale, then tossed it with a bit of olive oil and salt. 

 
I then baked them for 7 minutes until crispy.  Please be warned that you need to eat these all on the same day, or else they turn into kale chews and are not very good at all.

Fresh Veggies

I went to the Farmers' Market again yesterday as a break and got some delicious goods!  I bought corn on the cob, tomatoes (orange and red), red potatoes, okra, romaine lettuce, and lots of cucumber.  So I made a nice fresh, simple, summery lunch today.

Latkes!!!!

Latkes are one of my favourite foods.  Especially when we have all the delicious toppings on hand.  This latkes has some chopped onion in it, and is topped with smoked salmon, sour cream, green onions, pepper, and salt.  I am pretty proud of my photography job as well!

An Amazing Sandwich

I stopped eating sandwiches a long time ago because they are boring.  But then I realized it's just because I used to eat boring sandwiches.  In elementary school and part of high school I would eat sandwiches with 2 slices of whole wheat bread and 2 slices of deli meat, with some mustard if I was lucky.  Then I met Aki and when we were in our courting stage, he would share his lunch with me, and had the best sandwiches!  Prosciutto, aged cheddar, lettuce, and a few other things on a croissant.  Mmmmm, I had forgotten about those.  Here is the sandwich I made today - herb & garlic cream cheese, smoked salmon, spinach (actually I think I forgot to put the spinach on), bruschetta with olives, avocado, and alfalfa spouts, on a oatmeal/pumpkin seed bun!  Wowsers!

Thai Night!

Pad Thai
 
This is a really great recipe for Pad Thai that is originally from allrecipes.com, but has been adapted quite a bit over the years to perfection!  It may not seem as authentic because it is one of those peanut butter recipes and does not use tamarind paste, but sometimes that can be hard to find anyways!

Mix these all together for the sauce:
1/4 cup rice vinegar
3 tbsp honey
2 tbsp peanut butter
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp hot red chili flakes
1/4 tsp ground ginger
2 tbsp fish sauce

Cook half a pkg of rice noodles & drain.  Set to side.
In a large frying pan, fry up whatever diced veggies/meat/tofu you want (carrots, onion, snowpeas, chicken, etc).  Over high heat, mix in the noodles and crack in 2 eggs, and stir quickly and vigorously (best to do the eggs one at a time).  Add in sauce and cook until the sauce is less liquidy.  Transfer into a large glass dish and let cool.  Sprinkle with crushed peanuts and fresh corriander. 

Mango Salad

Julienne 2 unripe mangoes, and add in thinly sliced red onion and a handful of fresh coriander.  For the dressing, use the juice of 2 limes, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper to taste.  Allow the dish to sit in the refrigerator for about 1 hour before serving.

Enjoy!