to do list

ok folks, so i've been thinking that i should try and explore the food scene in vancouver a little bit more. this morning i thought that i should assemble an epic list of some restaurants, cafés and shops that sound really nommy and interesting. then i decided that i should put it on my blog so that 1) it's written down so i won't lose it or forget it 2) so that other vancouver-ites who may stumble upon this could pick somewhere to eat. its got its own special separate page here (link also located on the right hand side of my bloggity blog) so keep an eye out for reviews or new additions!



i'm sure the food shall be...

ingredient of the week: lentils

lentils are this week's ingredient of the week! i've been meaning to highlight them for a while but for some reason, the grocery store closest to campus didn't have any. luckily, i was able to find both the green and red types on a mega shopping trip a few days ago.

now, i talked a bit about lentils being healthy in my recipe for dahl here. but since this is ingredient of the week, it's time to get into a bit more detail of their awesomeness. lentils are part of the legume family, which to me is just kind of confusing. mainly because i was always learning french and legume in french is veggies. i couldn't understand how other things such as chickpeas, kidney beans, black beans and pinto beans could be in the same category as lettuce or broccoli or something.

red lentils like these were used in the recipe below

anyways, legumes are really important for people who are vegan or vegetarian. they are a high, non-animal source of protein. lentils in particular have about 20 grams per cup, which is pretty good considering you're not getting the added fat of meat!
lentils also are high in iron, which is super important for young women. i am anemic, and i take an iron pill to help keep my levels up and avoid the freaking crazy symptoms and just feeling tired all the time. so it is really important to me to always have a high amount of iron in my meals whether i'm eating a meal with meat or not.
lentils are also high in folate, which acts to reduce the amount of artery damaging homocysteine levels in the blood. in my human growth and development class (where we basically just talk about babies) we learned about neural tube defects.. and they aren't nice things. folate helps prevent these from occuring, so thats why anybody who's thinking about getting pregnant should eat lentils and take their folic acid.
other than all that, lentils are high in fibre (approximately 20 grams per cup!) and have a low calorie count, which is super good for any dieter because they will keep you full for a reaaalllyy long time, but you can save on those cals.

moroccan pottery

i decided to make a kind of moroccan-inspired soup with lentils. i've always wanted to go there... not that i can right now, so i went there by food and flavour. i am starting to feel a little sick so i really just needed something healthy, but warm to keep my sore throat away. this soup just gets tastier by the day!

what you need:
1 large onion
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
2 potatoes
1 cup red lentils
1 cup frozen peas
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 can diced tomatoes
6 cups water or broth (i used half of each)
2 tsp olive oil
5 cloves garlic
1 1/2 tsp turmeric and cinnamon
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp chilli powder
1 scoop greek yogurt

step 1:
chop up your veggies and garlic and peel and cube your potatoes. in a large pot placed on medium heat, add olive oil. when warm, add your onions and garlic and saute for about 3 minutes. once onion is translucent, add in the celery, carrots and ginger and saute for ~5 minutes.
step 2:
then add in your spices: turmeric, cinnamon, chilli powder and cumin. cook, stirring often for about 3 minutes. once all mixed together, add in your tomato paste, diced tomatoes, water or stock, lentils and potatoes.
step 3:
stir to ensure the flavours have combined and bring to a boil. reduce heat and then simmer for ~40 minutes. for the last 5 minutes of cooking, add in your cup of frozen peas. once warm, add a dollop of greek yogurt on top and you're ready to eat!

good timing for soup - just started to get a sore throat!

this soup recipe made such a huge portion (serves 8!) and it's so filling that i ended up freezing about half of it. i enjoyed mine with some nice jalapeno foccacia bread.

UPDATE: also a nice addition when serving this soup is sriracha sauce. it adds a nice little zip!

steak 'n puh-tay-duhs

oh! i've bee meaning to make a somewhat proper sunday dinner for a while. so i thought i'd make it as a treat when my family left so i didn't feel so down. and, julia had made a trip to the english food store a few months ago and i asked her to buy me some good 'ol mushy peas. i had been waiting to make them with something epic, so i decided that they would be my veggies (real or not) for the night.
this was my first time cooking steak by myself - i usually watch my dad do it on the bbq, but since i don't have one here i had to do it on the burner. this was also my first time making potatoes since i've been at ubc (i guess i kind of forgot they existed?) and this recipe was really, really good!

what you need:
1 steak (i used the flash fry kind because i like mine really thin)
1-2 potatoes
4 garlic cloves
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp canola oil
1 tsp thyme, oregano and paprika
4 tbsp oyster sauce  (you may need more depending on the size of your steak)
1 can mushy peas, or normal peas (or whatever veggies you want to make)

step 1:
pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. cut any extra fat off your steak (i took lots of the edges) and place in a ziploc bag. add in your oyster sauce and squish it around to cover the whole steak. put in fridge and let marinade.
step 2: 
wash your potatoes and chop into thin slices. place them on a paper towel to soak up any of the extra liquid that may come out of them. then, chop up your garlic and using the edge of your knife, mush into a paste. place in a small tupperware container and then add your olive oil, oregano and thyme and mix around.

pat potatoes dry on both side so garlic mix sticks better

step 3:
ensure both sides of the potatoes are covered in the garlic mix and place into a large oven safe dish. sprinkle on the paprika and then place in the oven for ~20 minutes (depending on how thick your slices are - thinner ones take less time).

ready for the oven!

step 4:
place mushy peas into a pan and set it to low. they will slowly heat up and should be ready by the time everything else is! so now, take out your steak (i let mine marinade for 1 hour or so). place a pan on medium heat and add in your canola oil. when warm, add in your steak and cook ~3-6 minutes on each side (depending on thickness and how well-done you like it). i like steak quite red so i cooked mine on the lower end of the spectrum.
step 5:
once your steak is done to your liking, set it aside and let it rest for 5 minutes so that it re-absorbs it's juices. if you cut into it now, that's just a sin. plate up and enjoy!

nom nom nom - steak and potatoes!

this was such a big piece of steak that i just couldn't finish it tonight. my ideas for leftovers would be: on top of salad, in tacos or even on a steak-dip sandwich.

chili weather, aussi

mhmm last week i defs had a limited pantry and decided it would be smart to just buy a few things and make a meal that would last a long time. this way, when my famjam came over for a couple of days i didn't have to worry about veggies going wrinkly. i got this recipe for a chilli bake-moussaka type thing from my friend the english girl in bc. it looked really yummy, so i decided to try it out myself. i made a couple of changes, but nothing big. it was reaaalllyy nommy!

what you need:
1 eggplant
1 medium zucchini
1/2 a large onion
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 medium package of lean ground beef
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chilli flakes
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup grated cheese
salt

step 1:
pre-heat oven to 375. cut up your eggplant and zucchini into slices (around 0.5 inches thick) and lay in a sieve. lightly salt both and lay out for 15-20 minutes. by then, you will see large drops of liquid sitting on top of the veggies. to get out as much water as possible, i decided to lay out the veggies on a couple sheets of paper towel.

the towel will soak up lots of extra liquid

step 2:
chop up your onion and garlic. saute in a large pan with olive oil till translucent. then add in your ground beef and cook. since i used an eggplant and a zucchini, i had leftovers of both. so i took the extra slices and finely diced them up.
step 3: 
once your beef is brown, drain the fat - you want to have as little liquid in the mix as possible. add in the tomatoes (sans liquid), diced up eggplant and zucchini, cumin, chilli flakes, paprika and chilli powder. simmer for a few minutes until there's less liquid in the mix. i scooped some of it out with a spoon just to make sure it wasn't so watery when i went to put it in the dish.
step 4:
put your first layer of veggies down in a oven-proof dish. spoon in your first layer of meat mix on top, and if you have enough cheese, you can put some on the top of this layer. then repeat as many times as you like. on the very top layer, add extra cheese. it makes it uber gooey!

just starting the second layer of nommy-ness

step 5:
lay some tin foil on the dish and put in the oven for ~40 minutes. take the foil off in the last 10 minutes so the cheese gets all nice and brown and bubbly. then you're ready to eat!

the finished product!

this was a really, really yummy and filling meal. it over all didn't cost too much and it ended up lasting me a good 4 days! next time i may try it with some of the veggie stuff that looks like ground beef, and maybe add some more veggies in. possibly some strips of whole wheat lasagna too?

ingredient of the week: greek yogurt

here we are again with another installment of ingredient of the week! i have been looking for greek yogurt for suchhh a long time in vancouver. they didn't have it at the two or three grocery stores that i usually go to, but luckily on a grocery adventure with the english girl in bc, i stumbled upon a brand i had never tried before - greek god's yogurt. now, that was kind of scary because i have tried some that have literally - i mean literally - tasted like barf. all acidy and just nasty. but i tried this one anyways. they didn't have the low-fat version at the grocery store which was fine with me.. i was just happy i found some. but, if possible the non-fat or lower-fat versions are best, mostly because the regular version is high in fat. although not the bad kind of fat, i'd rather just go for the lighter option!

this brand defs did not taste like barf  : )

so, greek yogurt is way, way different than regular yogurt. first off, it's strained three times so that most of the liquid whey is gone. this means you get double (!!) the amount of protein compared to normal yogurt. higher protein content (in any food) means that you can stay full and satisfied longer, this is why it's one of my favourite breakfasts!

since greek yogurt is not treated with heat (most regular yogurt is), more of the lactobacterial cultures can survive to make it into your gut. once there, they work hard to improve your digestive health by keeping you regular and reducing diarrhea. they also aid in the absorption of essential vitamins, minerals, protein, fats and carbs, and help produce amino acids, b-vitamins and vitamin k. basically, you need these 'good' bacteria in your diet to keep you healthy.

another point is that greek yogurt is low in sugar (about half the sugar content compared to regular unsweetened non-fat yogurt). because of the three-straining process, most of the natural sugar is removed.
oh yeah, and of course, it has lots of Ca²⁺. 

anyways, i like greek yogurt becaue it can be substituted as a healthier version for many higher-fat items such as mayo, sour cream, buttermilk, whole-milk and whipped cream. plus you don't need to worry about it curdling if you heat it up. here are two ways which i enjoyed my greek yogurt today:

greek honey and greek yogurt: the best breakfast of all time

this morning i had a nice scoop of yogurt with my greek honey. it's quick, light, nutritious and kept me full right through my class until 12:30. i loooovveee it.

midday smoothie with greek yogurt

i also made a smoothie before lunch.
what you need:
1 cup organic apple juice
1 fresh banana
2 heaping handfuls of frozen strawberries
1 handful mango or peaches
1 tsp ground flax (i bought regular seeds then pulsed them in the actual blender - money saver!)
1 tbsp greek yogurt

step 1: 
combine all and blend!

i also really like using greek yogurt in tzatziki, salad dressings, marinades (makes the meat super tender), sauces and dips etc etc. it's super versatile, you can basically use it in anything!

welcome back, sunshine

hello everybody, sorry for my hiatus on posting. exams were not so fun, profs can be mean some times! christmas break was also pretty crazy, but i got to hang out with my sisters quite a bit so that was good. but now i'm back at UBC and i've got to to really well this term. there's been some crazy stuff going on at home, so i decided to only take 4 courses this semester. more time to study, stay calm and hopefully get better grades! unfortunately this means i will have to do summer school, but only for the very first semester (may to june).

anyways, the days of 7AM alarms are over! no more 8AM classes for me  : )  so today i don't have class till 3 so i was able to sleep in, and oh my god it was glorious! i woke up and the sun was shining and i could actually see vancouver island from my flat! in honour of the sun, i decided to have a smoothie for breakfast. it's been the first in a while because it got really cold and tea and hot chocolate took over my life. well, hot chocolate still is haha. anyways, here's my nommy breakfast smoothie!

bright and tangy smooooothie  : )

what you need:

organic apple juice (i used some out of a juice box)

1 large frozen banana

2 big handfuls of strawberries

1 big handful of mango

if you have it, a scoop of whey or soy protein

step 1:

combine all ingredients into blender, and pulse until smooth! drink up  : )