just another way to procrastinate..

well folks, you may have noticed my month long absence from blogging. yes, i've still been cooking but i have had no time at all to do anything fun. that includes blogging. my life has been taken over by stupid school projects, midterms at the end of term (i know. i still don't get it...?), essays and meetings and i have basically have no social life. now, it's exam period and i have all them scrunched together in the first week. my first is tomorrow, a 50% motor behaviour final. oh, right... why am i not studying? cause that's too smart. and procrastinating is way more fun.

basically, i'm here to tell y'all that my blogging will continue to be absent over the christmas break. however, i will be baking and cooking lots of lovely lovely things, so stay tuned for january where i'll catch you up to all of my cooking shenanigans!

happy holidays!

a touch of spice

well folks, this post has been a long time coming. chai. oh, masala chai. words cannot express the love. all i know is that the first time i got a whiff of the spicy tea, my love affair with chai began. for a commercially available chai, celestial seasonings and tazo have to be my favourites. celestial seasonings has some hickory flavour added to it and it sometimes that bothers me. when it does, i just turn to tazo. i am one of those people who prefer their chai heavily spiced, and tazo does just that. plus they source their spices ethically and have several campaigns to give back to the communities where they get their tea. see their super cool website here. you all know that i can rarely resist a non-fat chai latte from starbucks. they use the tazo chai concentrate for their lattes. it doesn't have the same intensity as the teabags, but.. it's so rich and delicious that i'll take it!

spices are so prettttyyyyy

one thing i like about making my own masala chai is that i can adapt it to how i'm feeling at that moment. if i've got a sore throat, i'll generally add more peppercorns, or if i'm wanting something super sweet, i'll add more cinnamon. also, every batch you make comes out slightly different! the key is to play around with spices and see which combinations you like the best :)
the recipe below makes enough for 1 large, moderately spiced mug of chai

what you need:
1 stick of cinnamon
1 inch piece of ginger root
1 star anise
7 cloves
7 whole peppercorns
10 cardamom pods
1 or 2 teabags of plain black tea (or 2 tbsp loose)
2 cups water
1 cup milk
honey or sugar to taste

a cup of chai makes any study session a little more bearable!

step 1:
peel and thinly slice your ginger root. lightly crush your cardamom and cloves (peppercorns too if you want it spicyyy).
step 2: 
add water and milk to a pot with your spices and bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and lightly simmer for 10-15 minutes.
step 3:
add in your teabags and let steep for 3-5 minutes, depending on how strong you want it. strain really, really well into a mug and enjoy!

oh, hey, look what mug came in the mail!  : )

i decided to make this juuust as it started to hail/rain outside, perfect timing! i also settled down to watch the movie a touch of spice/politiki kouzina, which also finally came in the mail! it was pretty much a perfectly spiced afternoon. for those of you who haven't heard of/seen the movie, come over right NOW so you can watch it! it's the story about a boy who lives in istanbul, who's grandfather is a spice vendor and teaches him that life and food both need and a touch of spice. cute and funny all in one movie. what else can you ask for?

giouvetsi/youvetsi... it's all greek to me

turns out i'm doing pretty well preparing myself to be some sort of freakish semi-greek housewife. this is the most comforting dinner anyone would want to come home to on a cold day after school or work! i made this a whiiiilleee ago when there was an entire week of rain (woo, vancouver...). it was so cold, my rheumatic bones were aaaachinnggg and i just needed something warm and comforting to make me feel better. so, i turned to giouvetsi (yoo-vet-see)! it's a traditional greek stew made with lamb, beef or chicken with kritharaki (orzo) or hilopites, cooked in clay pots. now, this recipe does take a while, but most if it is just down time while the beef cooks down and gets fall-apart delicious. i ended up catching up on tons of my homework done, so really, it's a win-win! nommy food, reading done? sign me up.

oh the rain.. my poor bones!

what you need:
2 packs of stew beef
1 1/2 cups of orzo
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic
1 can crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce
2 cups broth
1 cup water (you can substitute red wine here)
3 whole cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp oregano
2 bay leaves
pinch of nutmeg
butter and olive oil
grated myzithra cheese

yum yum yum :)

step 1:
preheat oven to 300. add butter and olive oil to a large pot set to medium high heat and start to brown your beef. once done, place on a dish, cover, and set aside. dice your onion and add to the pan, stirring to scrape up all that caramelized goodness! cook for ~5 minutes, then add your crushed garlic.
step 2: 
once your garlic gets fragrant, add in your broth, water, crushed tomatoes and spices. bring this to a boil, then add your browned beef back into the pot. let this cook for ~30 minutes.
step 3:
add your orzo and cook for another 15 minutes. if you are running out of liquid, just add more water or broth. once the orzo is close to being cooked, take out your beef and place in a oven safe dish. fish out the cloves and bay leaf. pour the orzo/tomato liquid on top and cook in the oven for ~40 minutes.
step 4:
5 minutes before you take it out, grate some myzithra (or parmesan) cheese over the top.

just what you need on a day like that!

update: foodie to do list

right, everyone! i have kind of completely ignored my foodie to do list. i don't think i meant to, buuuut i did. luckily for y'all, i've gone to a few of those places to eat in the last 6 months and am here to share a quick bit about them all!

1) best flatbread: rocky mountain flatbread company
i went with julia one time last semester, and omagawd it was amazing. i had flatbread that was on special, it had cured ham, garlic mozzarella, capers, artichokes and cherry tomatoes. i swear i  devoured that! we also indulged in some sangria and baileys creme brulee. right. nooow i'm sure you want to go! it is as amazing as it sounds. ahhh, yum.

straight from the oven :)

2) vegetarian/cool vibe: the naam
this place was cool, and verrryyy busy. we probably went at a bad time! i just remember awkwardly waiting in the doorway, shuffeling as people were leaving and setting up reservations. but, aside from that, it was pretty good! i got the naam dragon bowl, with peanut sauce, rice, veggies, tofu and sprouts. it was defs one of those things that taste better the second day!

3) lebanese food: nuba
awesome. just awesome. we shared a few mezzes in traditional style, including the amazing sea scallops, grilled halloumi cheese (again, amazing) and baba ganooj and the lamb hushwie. it was awesome. defs going back again!

4) cheese and bread: pan e fromaggio
i was super lucky on this one! there was a living social deal for $40 worth of product for only $20. i bought some brie, some strange bubbly artichoke dip, some very smoky red pepper dip, a matcha rice crispy square, a panini, 2 loaves of bread and some raspberry drink thing. yeah, the artichoke dip was weird and i couldn't make myself eat it past day 2, and one of the loaves of bread went mouldy after 4 days.. but that could've just been me.

5) street food: japadog
julia and i stopped off at japadog downtown before seeing a movie this weekend! oh, it was so delicious! i got a kurobuta terimayo, which is apparently one of their most popular ones. it was so yummy, i defs completely devoured it, even with the onions (which i am usually not really a fan of). i want another. now. om. nom.

typical vancouver: raining on my parade!

 6) liquid chocolate with chilli: thierry: chocolatierie patisserie cafe
oh. my. god. this was amazing. a while back we watched the movie chocolat, and since i'm in luuuurve with spicy food, i HAD to go and try the basque chilli hot chocolate. all i have to say is super rich and super thick and had a lovely hint of spice. totally worth the money! and the macarons they had were pretty amazing too!

they even had a hidden berry in the raspberry macaron!

so, that's all the places i've been to since i started the foodie to do list, i'll be sure to keep y'all updated on whatever happens next!

ingredient of the week: spinach

oh, hey there! here's another installment of ingredient of the week! this time it's spinach. i know, i know, why the hell would i want to eat spinach? well. for one, it's full of iron and i'm anemic.. soo... that's just a match made in heaven. two, it's so versatile! it can be eaten raw or cooked, and it wilts down super small so you can fit lots of it into one portion, magnifying the amount of nutritiony goodness! now who doesn't like that? so, how do i like to eat my spinach? well... usually any salad i have has spinach in it, cause in my case, you can never get enough iron. i also love adding it to my morning fritattas!

spinach fields forever

nutrition wise, spinach is pretty much a superfood. its super high in vitamin k, a, e, b2&6 and c, manganese, folate, calcium and iron, not to mention has tons of fibre, some omega-3s and is super low in calories. along with all these, spinach is also full of health promoting phytonutrients such as carotenoids (beta-carotene, lutein etc) and flavanoids which provide powerful antioxidant protection. these function as anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer agents and reduce free-radical damage all over the body. spinach also has certain antioxidants that help prevent eye problems including macular degeneration, blindness in the elderly and cataracts. sooooo i eat spinach a lot of ways, but this time i decided to make a soup. it's uber important that you have a nice big piece of crunchy, delicious bread with this!

spinach and sweet pea soup

what you need:
1 9oz package of spinach
2 cups of frozen peas
1 onion
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable stock
2 pinches of nutmeg
salt and pepper
1 tbsp cayenne pepper (less if you don't like it spicy!)
1/3 cup skim milk 
* optional: 1 package of crimini mushrooms

step 1:
put a big pot on medium heat and add in your oil. while that's heating up, dice your onion, celery and carrot and add in. let that cook down for ~15 minutes. once the onion is translucent, add your spinach, stirring to help wilt it down.
step 2:
once wilted, add in your broth frozen peas, cayenne, nutmeg, salt and pepper. let that simmer away for ~15 minutes. in the meantime, if you want, sautee mushrooms. these just added an extra depth of flavour to the soup.
step 3:
once your soup is done, set it aside and let cool for a bit. ladle out ~1 cup of the broth so you can adjust the thickness of the soup. carefully blend the soup in batches until nice and smooth. if it needs to be thinned, add the extra broth. add the soup back to the pot to heat and pour in milk. this just makes it nice and creamy.

enjoy!

once again, i'm the worst greek alive

so. i'm really lame. i made tzatziki a looooooong time ago for my greek independence day shindig, which i meant to post up here. and i never did. i also didn't post the dolmathes we made! what is this? how did i forget all that food we had? ugh. blasphemy. how does a greek not share the greekness? that's like, the most important part of being greek. and i fail at it. but whatever. i'm at least giving you the recipe for my tzatziki.. so please don't be too angry greek gods? i'm trying here, ok?

thick and perfect for dipping!

what you need:
500 or 650 g container of greek style yogurt
1 cucumber
3 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp chopped dill
1 lemon
salt and pepper

step 1:
strain the yogurt in a lint free cloth over a bowl for about an hour. if lazy, just use the yogurt as it is. it turns out basically the same. grate your cucumber and squeeze as much liquid out of it as you can.
step 2:
add cucumber to a bowl along with the yogurt, minced garlic, chopped dill, juice of 1 lemon and salt and pepper. taste, and adjust how you like it! i usually add a lot more lemon juice.

yum yum yum 

so that's it! super simple, quick and healthy dip. can be used in pitas with falafels, wraps, on souvlaki.. the list goes on and on!

falafel me crazy

falafel. delicious middle eastern fast food. i love it. it's awesome. so, why not attempt to make a healthier (aka baked not fried) version at home? doesn't seem too hard to make, non? well. it drove me crazy. absolutely crazy. this was possibly the biggest kitchen fail i've had to date! not the actual falafel. that actually turned out really really well, it was just the falafel making process.

here's a story for ya. we have small food processor. as i found out in the middle of prep, it is so old it doesn't work. so what do you do to fix this? blend it. well, that sort of helped.. but it started making chickpea soup. basically, i spent 2 hours mushing up and chopping through the mix so it was smooth enough to make falafel with. pleaaase have a food processor that works if you make this. please. i beg you.

crispy, fluffy, yummy!

what you need:
1 can of chickpeas
1 small onion
3 tbsp chopped parsley (and cilnatro but i left it out cause i loathe it)
4 cloves garlic
3 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt and pepper
4 tbsp whole wheat flour

step 1: 
pre-heat oven to 400. in a food processor, combine chickpeas, roughly chopped onion, garlic, parsley, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper and blend until well chopped, but not pureed together. sprinkle on the baking powder and flour and pulse a few more times.

try to get your mixture smoother than this. my arm was clearly too tired..

step 2:
scoop a small amount of the mixture into your hand and try to shape into a ball. if it falls apart, add more flour to the mix.

it should look something like this

step 3: 
press down and place into an oiled oven-safe dish. bake for 10 minutes each side or until nice and golden brown! they were still crispy on the outside, and fluffy on the inside, without frying them!

these freeze really well! after you've rolled and squished them, just place them in a ziploc bag and lay flat in your freezer. you can eat them plain, dip them in tzatziki (recipe to follow!), or you can put it in a pita like i did. so yummy!

hot and healthy quinoa breakfast bowl

that's right. quinoa. for breakfast. why had i never thought of this before? when it cooks it fluffs up like mad, so it would clearly just be an awesome alternative for your joe shmoe oatmeal or cream of wheat. quinoa is just so much cooler. gluten free and jam packed with nutrition (complete protein, iron, niacin and fibre), quinoa is pretty much just the best way to start your day! it was thick, creamy, filling and ridiculously satisfying! this meal is something i like to call a superfood. it has so many vitamins and minerals its basically a big, delicious dose of health! pecans and almonds added healthy fats, extra protein, tons of antioxidants, 18 essential nutrients and of course, the crunch factor. the ground flax added your daily dose of omega-3 fatty acids, fibre and phytochemicals. cinnamon and nutmeg provide all the manganese you need, blood sugar control and all that nice stuff.

i added quite a bit of cinnamon to my quinoa cause it makes it so much more comforting for those cold, early mornings! also, i used soy because i invited a not-so-milk-loving-but-quinoa-loving friend to taste my little experiment. plus i like that it has all sorts of vitamins, minerals and goodness in it as well. basically, i would add a bit, taste, and adjust to your liking. so, without further ado, here's the recipe!

oh. yeah. my little bowl of comfort, right there!

what you need:
1 cup quinoa
1.5 cups vanilla soy milk (or whatever milk you like)
1/2 cup water
handful chopped pecans
handful chopped almonds
handful of fresh berries (blackberries were the best!)
3 tbsp crushed flax seed
2-3 tsp cinnamon
2 pinches of nutmeg
* if you use regular milk, add 2 tbsp brown sugar to make it sweeter

step 1:
pre-heat oven to 350. put a large pot onto medium high heat. add your water and milk, and wait for it to boil. if your quinoa isn't pre-washed, place it in a sieve under water until it runs clear. once boiling, add your quinoa and cook for ~15 minutes or until big and fluffy or until all the liquid is gone.

bubble bubble bubble

step 2:
chop up your pecans and almonds and toast in the oven for a few minutes. be careful not to burn them! once your quinoa is cooked, stir in your flax, cinnamon, nutmeg and nuts. serve and plop on the berries of your choice!

doesn't that just look glorious?!

this batch made enough to last me the entire week, plus give some to a friend! to reheat, simply scoop in a bowl, add a bit of milk and heat for ~1.5 minutes or until milk starts to bubble. you can use other fruit as well, such as pears, apples, bananas or nectarines! i looooved it with blackberries though. so delicious!

super easy, super quick zucchini pie-quiche thing

my faaaavourite veggie of all time has to be zucchini. it's basically a must have in my fridge! its yummy, cooks quickly and pretty much can be used in anything. this is why i love it so much! anyways, this is a really quick and super delicious dish that i discovered this summer while staying at my yiayia's house. christina and i both ate massive, massive, massive amounts of this over the summer. it was an issue. buuut now i have the recipe.. which makes it a bigger issue. it's pretty healthy so that makes it a bit better i guess...?

mmm goldeny brown ooey-gooey bits

what you need:
2 large zucchini
6 eggs
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint and parsley
spring onion (i omitted this... not a fan!)
1.5 cups flour
1 cup low fat grated cheese

step 1:
pre-heat oven to 350. dice your zucchini into small, bite sized pieces. chop your parsley, mint, and spring onion.
step 2:
mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl and pour into a baking dish. cook for ~35 minutes, or until nice and golden brown.

i had mine with avocado and sriracha sauce!

that's it! see how easy it was? you can eat it warm or cold (i personally prefer it cold) and made enough for 4-5 servings.

ingredient of the week: eggplant

ok folks! blog is seriously up and running again with a new installment of ingredient of the week! this time its eggplant. oh glorious, tender, buttery eggplant! i must admit, i wasn't a big fan of eggplant until quite recently. same with a lot of things though, which is good i guess! olives are still off the list of edible food in my mind though, and i'm positive they will stay there for a very, very long time. yuck. anyways, yes, back to eggplant. i really think it's one of the most attractive, yummy, i-want-to-eat-you-right-meow vegetable/fruit things out there. it helps that i love love love love the colour purple, especially aubergine!

before we get started on some health benefits, lets talk about a random fact. eggplant, as everyone knows, is quite bitter due to the little seeds. why? because - who woulda thought - eggplant is a close relative of tobacco, and the seeds contain nicotine! ... kind of gross!aaanyways, health stuff! yes! that's why we're here! eggplants are full of vitamins and minerals, such as potassium, manganese, copper, folate, niacin, vitamin B1 and B6, as well as having a high dose of good ol' dietary fiber. yum yum! it's also super low in calories, approximately 27 per cup! all that goodness in so little calories? oh count me in!

oooooh preeetttyyyyyy

on the larger scale, eggplant play a key role in living a healthy life. first off, it's great for your cardiovascular health. basically, compounds in eggplant lower the amount of cholesterol in the artery walls, allowing them to relax. this means better blood flow to the heart and to the body. and, as you may have guessed from it's colour, eggplant has lots and lots of antioxidants and phytonutrients, specifically nasunin, which is found in the skin of the fruit. this is a potent free-radical scavenger and protects cells from damage, as well as having antiangiogenic properties (YOU MUST WATCH THIS TEDTALK). basically, that means it can slow down/prevent cancer tumor growth by cutting off angiogenesis (the growth of new blood vessels from pre-existing ones)

earlier this week i made a slightly edited version of my yiayia's lebanese eggplant stew, called menazzaleh. her version was very simple, and i wanted to add a few more spices to give it some depth. i also have decided to change a few things in the recipe since making it. anyways, this is what i came up with!
(sidenote: i must apologize for the crap photos. the lighting in my basement apartment isn't very good. i swear, most of the stuff i post from now on will taste better than it looks!)

looks crap, tastes delicious!

what you need:
3 medium eggplant (dark purple variety)
1 can of chickpeas + some liquid
5 tomatoes (you can use canned as well)
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 onion, sliced thin
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon (even if you don't like cinnamon in savory food, just put a little sprinkle. it adds so much depth to the dish!)
pinch of nutmeg
2.5 cups chicken stock

step 1:
preheat oven to 300. cut eggplant into bite sized chunks. my yiayia cut them in rounds, but it made the cooking process so long that bite sized is definitely easier. lay on a sieve and sprinkle on some salt. add paper towel between the layers to soak up extra liquid. leave for 15 - 30 mins.
step 2:
while waiting for your eggplant, slice your onion thin and start sauteing in a large pan with some olive oil. i like my onion very caramelized, but you can take it as far as you like. by this point, you can wash off your eggplant, put them in an oven safe dish with a little olive oil and bake for ~30 minutes, depending on the size.
step 3:
once your onions are done, add in your chopped garlic and saute until fragrant, then add your tomatoes, stock and chickpea liquid. cook this down for ~10 minutes. add in your chickpeas, turmeric, nutmeg, paprika and cumin, and stir everything to combine and cook for another 15 minutes.
step 4: 
once your eggplant is done, add into the pan with the other ingredients and sprinkle your cinnamon on top. at this point, i layered eggplant, then chickpea mix into an oven safe dish to bake, buuut forgot to buy some kefalotyri so it was pointless. you can just leave it in the pan to finish stewing for another 20 minutes or until chickpeas are tender. then you're done! serve with brown rice.

yum yum yum

do you have any kin-oh-aaaahh?

i remember the first time i wanted to buy quinoa. i had watched countless dr. oz and the doctors episodes and new all the ridiculous nutrition info about the ancient, and quite hard to find, grain. so, my dad and i set out to the grocery store to search for some. we looked and looked, and couldn't find it anywhereee, even in the local healthy organic food store! eventually, my dad decided to ask an employee where we could get some.

  dad:  "hey, do you have any kin-oh-aaaaah?"

  guy:  "uuumm...... what is that?"

  me:   "a grain type thing?"

  guy:  "ok, let me ask someone"

  2 minutes later

  new guy:  "what are you looking for?"

  dad:   "kin-oh-aaaaah"

  new guy:  "you mean, keen-wah?"

  me:  "YES" 

  new guy: *walks 2 steps* "its right here!"

  dad + me:  *facepalm*

and that everyone, was the epic angelopoulos search for kin-oh-aaaaah. and now my dad knows how to pronounce it properly (i of course knew how to say it, but thought it was funnier watching my dad haha).

aaaanyways. yes. so i've already done an ingredient of the week on quinoa (here) so i'll save you all that boring health information. all you really need to know is that its awesome and it has lots of protein. i bought a massiiiveee bag of organic quinoa from costco, and finally put some of it to use! this may come as a surprise to many of you, but i've started to like new things. mushrooms are one of them! this was my very first time cooking them, which was quite exciting! so, this was ridiculously tasty considering i made it up off the top of my head. man, i'm good! anyways, here's my asian inspired vegetarian quinoa pilaf.

doesn't look like much, but man, it was awesome!

what you need:
2 cups of quinoa *pre-washed
1 package of extra firm tofu
olive oil for cooking
1 package of mushrooms
1 red pepper
1 package of snap or snow peas
1 onion
1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
3 tsp ginger
4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp cayenne pepper
4 cups low sodium chicken stock

step 1:
cut your tofu into small bite sized pieces. place in a dish with the soy sauce and ginger. set aside and let marinade for ~30 minutes, stirring occasionally. finely dice your onion and saute in a large saucepan on medium heat. while that's browning, slice your mushrooms into small bite sized pieces and saute in a separate pan until nice, brown and tender.
step 2:
chop your garlic and add to the onions, cook till aromatic and then add in your diced red pepper. let this cook down until the peppers are tender. when mushrooms are done, add to the pot along with chicken stock, cayenne pepper, tofu and any extra marinade and of course, the quinoa.
step 3:
the quinoa should take about 15 minutes to cook, so while that's going, whipe down the pan you used to cook the mushrooms in, and place on medium heat. slice the ends of the snap peas off, cut in half and put in the pan. add 1/2 cup water and steam them. when they reach a nice, bright green, strain and put in an ice bath.
step 4:
you'll know the quinoa is finished cooking cause it puffs up A LOT. add the snow peas to your dish, scoop on some pilaf, and enjoy!

yummy yummy! made ~6 servings

long time no see / macaron madness

ok, after getting nagged for the last few weeks from everyone, i've finally found a bit of time to start up my blog again after the summer. so, let's catch up on my life, and my random cooking shenanigans!

my summer started with a lovely 2 months of summer school. oh joy. i took 2 courses: introductory archaeology, and indian religions. kind of random. anyways, the kitchen in residence was kind of crap/scary/dirty all the time, so not too much exciting stuff went on there. starbucks + baguette + brie + wine pretty much sums up that part of the summer.
theeen i went back to montreal and ottawa to visit my famjam, where the real food happened. yemista, moussaka, pastitsio, steak x7, ribs, bagels, eggplant dip, la botega sandwiches from god, brown butter pasta, poutine, menazzaleh, cupcakes x4, bacon x923898230, the works, scary fish with teeth, beaver tails, brie and baguette and BACON FAT EVERYTHING. oh lord. now i know why i'm fat...

anyways. yes. i ate a alot. i also tried my hand at macarons. now, as you may have noticed, i don't really bake things that often. cooking is easy cause you just throw things together and somehow you come up with something. but with baking, everything has to be exact. it's scary. aaand queen of the exactness are macarons. why did i do this to myself? oh yeah, cause you can't get them like, anywhere in victoria. and when you can, they're super expensive. so, why not make a massive batch at home and save some money? yep, that's just what i did.

mmmm macarons!   : )

so, i will ring in the new year of blogging by starting with these delicious pistachio macarons! note: they weren't 100% perfect, but for a first attempt i think i did pretty well! the only thing was that they weren't very tall, but i'll let you know where i think i messed up. also, i was originally going to make pistachio filling but i ran out of icing sugar. i substituted nutella instead. who doesn't like nutella? it was still awesome.

what you need:
160 g of pistachios, unsalted
120 g egg whites (room temp)
200 g icing sugar
35 g granulated sugar
green food colouring
lots of nutella
an extra pair of hands? (thanks dad!)

step 1: 
peel the skin off your pistachios. this was soo time consuming, so if you can find them already skinned, or even in powdered form, then do it! if you can't, blanch them in hot water first. it will make it a lot easier to get the skins off. let them dry.
step 2: 
when you're waiting for them to dry, preheat oven to 350 and line your baking trays with parchment paper. sift through your icing sugar to get out any lumps. then add to your food processor, along with the dried, skinned pistachios and process until you get a fine powder. sift and set aside. (mistake #1: didn't process them long enough and still had some small-but-not-small-enough bits of pistachio in there).
step 3:
add in egg whites to your mixer and beat on medium until soft peaks start to form. then gradually beat in your granulated sugar, while increasing the speed, until thicker peaks form. i added in about 5 drops of food green food colouring, but if you want a bit more then go for it. once mixed in, add your pistachio/icing sugar powder and gently fold with the egg whites.
step 4:
spoon mixture into a piping bag with a round tip (mistake #2: we didn't have the right shape, and ended up squeezing the mix out of a smaller tip, which probably made the mix deflate a bit). try and pipe even, 1" circles onto the baking tray. as you can see, i basically used up all the baking trays in my house.... 3 were in the oven when i took this pic. yep.

my army of macarons!

step 5:
let sit for an hour to let the shells form. if you wanted to make a filling, now would be the time! if just sticking with nutella, bake for ~10 minutes. let cool before removing from parchment. try and slowly peel them off. if they start to stick, put them back in the oven for a few more minutes. pair similar sized ones together, and slather on the nutella!

om nom nom!

that's it! considering it was my first attempt, they were super good. crunchy on the outside, chewy goodness all around! this recipe probably made ~50 macarons, but i don't know for sure as my entire family was nibbling on them before i could put them all together!

a very belated christos anesti

soo... as many of you have noticed i haven't been updating my blog too often. its a mix of year-end exams, some travelling, moving into a new apartment and taking summer courses that suck up all of my time. i'll try to update as often as i can (or when i make food that is awesome...) but i think overall i will be blogging less than usual. in the meantime, let's look at how i spent my easter! i had about a 2 week break before my last exam, so i decided to head out east to celebrate easter the super, super greek way with my grandparents, sister and other family. what is the super, super greek way? well, i'm talkin' going to church more times in one week than i have in the last 10 years of my life, baking copious amounts of cookies, breads and food in general, and eating things.. i don't ever want to eat again in my life...
anyways, to give you a bit of background information, here's mr. panos to explain a basic greek easter. and yes, we made almost everything he mentioned (minus the kokoretsi, thank god).



aaaannnddddd just for some laughs, one of the best parts in my big fat greek wedding. "cheestro anesti". her dad looks just like both of my papous... and they think in very similar ways...



anyways, so onto some of what i experienced having a very traditional greek easter with my yiayia and papou. first off, i accidentally slept through the palm sunday service (i thought my yiayia was going to hate me forever after that). so, it didn't start too well. things got better when i was able to help my yiayia cook ridiculous amounts of food. let's start with baking over 200 greek cookies, including melomakarona, kourabiedes (YUMMMM) and koulourakia. next came dying eggs. there were a lot of them. we mostly did red eggs (ya know, trying to be all traditional here) which was a little boring but HEY we got to stick them in our ARMY OF TSOUREKI. yes, yes that's right. it was an army. seriously. i don't know why we made so much! anyways, you add in this cool ingredient called mahlepi, which is a spice made from a particular type of cherry. this gives the bread this subtle and unique sweet flavour.

angelopoulos army of tsoureki

 then came the making of some pretty ridiculously epic dolmathes... i still can't even begin to explain how yummy they were. you can't really go wrong with using ground lamb... mmm... so goood! then we made some random meals with no meat leading up to good friday.. then came the scary stuff. when my papou went to the farm to get the lamb, he got the guts with it. and, what do you do with the guts? put them in a soup.. with LEMON!! i mean, of course, why wouldn't you? erm, yeah.. not such a fan. the lungs, liver and kidneys had been sitting in a tupperware container in the fridge for a good 4 days, and they were just taunting me the entire time! anyways, from my observation, the only real reason you go to church late night on saturday is to get the "light of god" from the priest, party with some fireworks, sing a couple of "christos anesti ek nekron"'s, and to go home and eat magiritsa. can't say i particularly wanted to eat that at 2am.. but, i made myself promise to try a bit of everything. gotta say though, this is something i'm just not ready to eat anytime soon. if it was made with the atcual meat, it would have been fine! i guess i'm just not an organ person... can you blame me?!

this was the before face...

anyways, yeah so all i can say is that lungs are very squishy... and bouncy... and that they don't exactly taste good. it weirded me out too much that i could rip a piece apart and name the structures inside (yaaay, HKin nerdiness!). so no. that didn't go well. here's penny, to show us just how awkward it can get. (please mind the random camera movements.. i tried to capture the faces the best way possible!)



sooo... after all the drama with the icky organs, comes the BEST PART OF GREEK EASTER FO SHIZZ. yes, yes that's right. i'm talking about LAMB ON A SPIT. my lord, before this easter, i hadn't had an actual spit lamb for years! ooohhh it was so tasty! the skin was crispy, the meat was falling-off-the-bone ridiculously tender and juicy! there's really nooothing like it. not lamb in the oven or anything. it has to be on a spit. in the yard. so that all of your neighbours can point and laugh. or be jealous. i prefer the to think it's the latter!

this is maria! our little lamby.. head meat reserved for papou!

so, on sunday my aunt and uncle and cousins came over for an epic feast of food made with lemon! i'm talkin potatoes, chicken, LAMB, hummus, veggies, salad, feta, kelafotyri, olives, dolmathes, pasta, bread/tsoureki, cookies, cheesecake, lots and lots and lots of wine.. and some other stuff i can't remember. basically, i ate a lot of food. too much food. i had to change into my lululemons!!
possibly the best part of easter was when my yiayia would answer the phone not saying "hello" but saying "christos anesti" or "christ has risen". literally for 3 days before and after easter that's what she would say. not everybody who called was greek.. so that would have been a very awkward beginning to the phone convo! 
so folks, that was my greek easter... i've given you a wee update hope that is good enough until i find more time to cook!

ingredient of the week: garlic

well.... it's been a very, very long time since our last ingredient of the week! my life has been pretty crazy for the last few weeks... so i haven't really been focusing on the blog. but i have been cooking some pretty epic food (that's my way of dealing with stress!) slowly but surely they will be popping up here! so for this installment of ingredient of the week, i chose garlic. love love love love love love love. i can't get enough garlic. some people don't like it raw or find it way too overpowering, but i just love it. i mean, who doesn't like waking up with garlic breath in the morning? or having their hands smell like garlic for 2 days?! well.. i don't exactly like those parts but you just gotta put up with it! in fact, my duvet actually smells like garlic. it's an issue. doesn't exactly put me to sleep...

anyways. yes, garlic. we all love it. so let's talk about why you should eat more of it! garlic is a cardiac savior. first, garlic is rich in sulfur-containing compounds such as thiosulfinates and sulfoxides, which give it that distinct smell, as well as most of it's nutritional benefits. one benefit of these compounds is that they dilate our blood vessels, helping our blood pressure stay under control. they do this by blocking the activity of angiotensin II (man, never thought HKIN 191 would ever come in handy!!). angiotensin II is a peptide protein that helps out blood vessels contract (then causing blood to be forced through a smaller space, increasing the pressure). by blocking this, the sulfur-containing compounds found in garlic can minimize the unecessary contractions of our blood vessels and therefore the unwanted increased blood pressure.

good for your health, and keeps away vampires  : )

another health benefit from these compounds is lowering of our triglyceride and our total cholesterol levels. but, the major cardiac benefit that these compounds provide is cardioprotection, meaning they protect our blood cells and blood vessels from inflammatory and oxidative stress (ie: damage). basically, highly reactive oxygen molecules wreak havoc on the linings of our pretty little arteries and veins. this damage can cause plaque to form which, in turn, can lead to heart attacks and atherosclerosis. the sulfur-containing compounds found in garlic minimize this by inhibiting the activity of inflammatory causing mechanisms in the oxygen molecules. another compound, ajoene, helps to prevent clots from forming inside our blood vessels by preventing platelets in our blood to become too sticky. ajoene helps maintain a kind of "stickiness homeostasis", if you will.

ok, time for a change! let's stop the cardiac talk -- garlic also has amazing anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal properties, and has been used throughout all of history for treating illness! various compounds in freshly crushed garlic show huge benefits in controlling infection from worms, yeasts, bacteria and viruses. they've been used on burn victims, stomach ulcers, and on bacterial infections that are not responding to antibiotics. that's pretty awesome if you ask me! i really could go on about antioxidants, vitamin C, selenium, anti-inflammatory/arthritic properties, increased iron metabolizing properties, cancer prevention etc, etc. that garlic provides... but i'm tired of writing. basically, garlic is a superfood when it comes to your health, and if you're not eating it.. then you better start! it basically cures everything!

so, now onto the meal i used an epic amount of garlic in. i made a traditional greek lentil soup called Φακές/fakes (pronounced fah-KESS). yes. yes, i know. it sounds like fuckers. ha ha ha ha. but of course, that's not what the old greek ladies are saying! anyways, its quite an easy recipe to make, all you have to do is chop and let cook!

fakes lentil soup: simple flavours, but delicious!

what you need:
1 1/2 cups of brown lentils
1 onion, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
8 cloves of garlic, sliced
2 potatoes, cubed
4 cups water/chicken broth (i used half of each)
2 bay leaves
2 tsp oregano
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1-2 tbsp red wine vinegar

step 1:
after sifting through the lentils for rocks and twigs, put them into a large pot and cover with water. bring to a boil and cook for ~15 minutes. while this is cooking, take the time to chop up all of your ingredients. when cooking time is up, strain into a collander.
step 2:
in the same pot, add olive oil and saute your onions until translucent. add in the celery and cook down for a few minutes. add your sliced garlic, bay leaves, oregano, potatoes, tomato paste and water/broth. let simmer for ~30 minutes, stirring frequently, or until lentils are soft.
step 3:
ladle into a bowl and spoon the red wine vinegar on top. this may seem weird to people who haven't tasted this before, but you need to add this. it lifts the entire dish to a new level! and of course, soak up the liquid with a nice piece of crispy bread! enjoy!

spana... whatchamacallit?

sorry for the delay in posting everybody! exam time is nearly upon us so this will be one of the last blog posts for a while. i'd much rather spend my time cooking epic food, but no.. no... i have to write exams. oh how i love my life. downside: somehow i still have managed to have 2 exams on the same day (one being 70%).. upside: i have about a two week break after that until my last exam! so, i've decided to pack up again and head out to montreal for a real greek easter: lots of family, church services and of course, lamb on a spit! it's gonna be such a nice way to spend the holiday!

anyways, back to my post. a while back i decided to try and make σπανακόριζο, or spanakorizo (pronounced spah-nah-KOH-ree-zoh). got that? haha that's ok. if not, spana... whatchamacallit works just fine  : )  aaanyways, spanakorizo is a traditional greek rice with lots and lots of spinach. i had this cube of frozen spinach in the freezer for aaaaaaages and finally found a way to use it! now, i don't actually have a recipe for this... i kind of made it up as i went along, but it tasted quite like the real deal! it's a super fast recipe, all you need to do is throw things in a pot and let it cook... and it's also pretty good on the student food budget!

a squeeze of lemon brings it all together  : )

what you need:
big chunk of frozen spinach
2/3 cup of brown rice
~ 2 cups water/chicken broth (i used more broth than water -- it gives more flavour)
1/2 an onion, chopped fine
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1 tbsp dill, chopped (i keep mine in the freezer so it doesn't go bad)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 a lemon

step 1:
in a pot set to medium heat, add in your oil. when hot, add in your chopped onion and garlic and saute until translucent. then add your chucks of frozen spinach. you can use as much or as little as you like!
step 2: 
once the spinach separates and heats through, add in your rice and water/broth and bring do a boil. cook for ~15 minutes or until rice is done, stirring occasionally. 
step 3: 
at the end of the cooking time, add your chopped dill, lemon juice and stir. sprinkle on some crumbled feta if desired, and there you go!


this goes really well as a side dish to basically anything greek (the flavours are pretty classic) souvlaki, lamb, etc etc. it's also perfectly fine on it's own as a meal! i always have it with a nice piece of feta on the side and a fresh squeeze of lemon on top. yum yum yum!   : )

worst greek alive

 ok. i have this thing i need to get off my chest: am possibly the worst greek ever. i don't speak the language (unless greeklish counts, i'm pretty fluent in that), i only really like the traditional music, i don't go to church that often, i let feta cheese go mouldy, and i hate (HATE) olives. the latter is especially bad considering my relatives make a living by actually farming olives in delphi. it's in my blood. oh, i must really be offending my ancestors. when i visited them in 2004 i was forced to have some (i didn't want to be offensive) and i just couldn't keep a straight face. it was just such a strong flavour! ick! but i really love greek cuisine. so, i have to make some modifications. two awesome greek dishes, dakos and horiatiki both have olives. i feel like i'm massacring part of my history, but i gotta take the olives out.

olive trees in the valley below delphi, town of itea in the distance

anyways, let's start with dakos (ντάκος). it's a traditional cretan meze or appetizer, kind of like a greek version of bruschetta, with a rusk, cheese, tomatoes, and greek olive oil and oregano (plus an olive on top but as mentioned above, i leave them out). i went to crete for the first time ever last summer, and i had the most amazing time of my life. i hiked the 18km samaria gorge in keds that weren't broken in, swam in the crystal clear waters of elafonissi, thwarted masses of stupid tourists at the palace of knossos, made friends with fishies at the cretan aquarium and felt odd peace at the arkadi monastery, where thousands gave their lives in the cretan revolt against the ottomans. after seeing so much of crete, i've decided you can't know greece without knowing crete and you can't go to greece without going to crete either. it's a very unique place, the dialect is so so strange, and the history is so different from the mainland. i love that island. i think the city of chania is one of my favourite places in greece, at least the old part of town. streets lined with cute shops, octopus drying in the sun, the old venetian lighthouse in the harbour, awesome naval museum and of course, the crazy restaurateurs complimenting you just so you eat at their place... anyways.. that was a bit of a ramble.

monastery of arkadi, town of loutro - only accessible by boat and the cute and noble kri-kri

dakos is one of cretes signature dishes, and i love love love it. simple, delicious, and it only takes 2 minutes to make. that's my kind of food!

what you need:
cretan rusks (you can find them at any greek or mediterranean grocer, if not you can use melba toast)
hunk of crumbled myzithra or feta cheese
1 tomato
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp greek oregano
step 1:
if you are using the cretan rusks, sprinkle a bit of water on top. this makes it easier to tear into pieces. remove the skin off of the tomato. you can cut it into really small pieces, or grate it into a bowl. spread the tomato with the liquid onto the rusk.
step 2: 
add the cheese, oil and oregano on top of the tomato and enjoy!

 now for the horiatiki (xωριάτικη). for those of you that know what it is hooray! if you don't recognize the name, thats ok, because you most certainly will in english. the classic greek salad. i didn't go one day without eating it while in greece - it's the perfect mix of veggies to relieve you from the heat of the day (umm 45 helloo, not so fun). the really important thing for horiatiki is that you have really, really good quality feta. go to the greek grocer, and get 100g of the greek feta. it'll only set you back about 2 bucks. totally worth it. if they have a good selection they will probs give you pieces of each to try. i always ask for that!

what you need:
1/2 a cucumber, skin off
2 vine ripe tomatoes
1/2 green pepper
extra virgin olive oil
dried greek oregano
red wine vinegar
slice of good feta cheese
step 1: 
cut all veggies into bit sized pieces and put in a bowl. mix together oil and vinegar (a 3:1 ratio is classic, but i like mine with more zing so i put more vinegar)
step 2: 
pour dressing on top of veggies and toss. top with feta and a sprinkle of oregano.

no feta? but it's so important! nope. i let it go mouldy  : (

Καλή όρεξη!
kali orexi!

orzo shmorzo

truth be told, i forgot about orzo for a while, even though it's one of my favourite pastas to eat! orzo/kritharaki is a rice shaped pasta traditionally made of barley, but now mostly made with wheat. they're so cute! i really couldn't find it anywhere in the grocery store, but it turns out i just wasn't looking in the right places. finally one day i had to ask for some, and it was in the pasta isle the whole time! i don't know. i'm a bit blind i guess. you can also find it in any greek shop, but don't look for orzo, look for kritharaki. one of the best, best ways to make orzo, in my opinion, is in youvetsi, a greek beef or lamb stew with tomato sauce. i'm going try and make it soon... i can't wait!!

kritharaki means 'little barley' in greek

what you need:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup orzo
1/2 a zucchini cut thinly into quarters
4 cloves garlic (i like a lot of garlic!)
1 tsp thyme
lemon juice
1 tsp chili flakes

step 1:
put a pot of water on to boil for the orzo. it should only taken about 10 minutes to be al dente. strain into a colander.
step 3: 
in the same pot set to medium heat, add in the olive oil and garlic. cook down for a few minutes and then add in your thyme, chilli flakes and zucchini slices. once the zucchini is cooked, add your orzo back into the pan and mix. squeeze a nice bit of lemon juice over the top and set aside.
step 4: 
the orzo can be served warm, or as a cold salad. i served mine with lemon/thyme salmon and it was delicious!

license to snack

here's a quick post that i thought was very necessary seeing as i love, love, love snacks. i am a very guilty snacker. i try to stick to healthy things, like fruit or smoothies, but that definitely doesn't work all the time (hellooo, jalapeno pringles!) one of the main reasons that i don't actually mind snacking is that i never feel deprived of anything - a huge reason why many diets fail. if you say to yourself, you can't eat this or that, or can only eat at this time, you'll end up craving those specific foods and eating all day. the trick to snacking is to think about what you're eating, how much you're eating and why you're eating it.

here are some simple rules about how to make snacking healthy.
-   eat slowly! i am naturally a slow eater, sometimes i get self-conscious about it. but in the end, it's the best way to eat. it allows your body time to send signals to your brain that you're full, and you eat just what you need. 
-   keep portions small. don't eat out of a bag! biggest mistake you can make, and of course i speak from experience! take a single serving of the snack item and put it into a container.
-   have an indulge day. sometimes you just need that sugary bit of goodness. pick one day (mine are usually fridays) and let yourself have that bit of chocolate. as long as you don't eat the whole bar, you're fine.
-   snack smart. if you're a snacker like me, have healthy options available at all times. i always have frozen fruit in the freezer for a smoothie, almonds, multigrain crackers for hummous and fresh fruit in my kitchen.

here are a few of my favourite foods to nibble on!

pita - yumminess, calcium and monosaturated fats (aka the good stuff)
what you need:
1 pita bread
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (my grandparents gave me some they imported from greece.. it's amazing)
2 tsp greek oregano or zaatar
hunk of crumbled feta cheese
step 1: 
stick pita bread in the oven to toast, or if you're just too hungry to wait you can cut it in half stick it in the toaster until crispy.
step 2:
drizzle on the olive oil, oregano and the feta cheese. yumm.

peanut butter two ways - protein, potassium, and some more protein!
what you need:
2 tbsp organic natural peanut butter (cashew and almond butter are really good too)
1 apple or 1 banana
step 1:
peel banana and cut into rounds. cut the apple into little wedges. take the peanut butter and spread onto each piece of fruit.

edamame - protein, essential fatty acids and fibre!
what you need:
handful of frozen edamame (shells on or off are both fine)
spices - i like cayenne, cumin or just sea salt
step 1:
put the edamame in a bowl, and put in the microwave until thawed. sprinkle on your spices and toss until evenly coated.