The Juice Box

Today, I’m doing juice cleanse. I have been wanting to do one for quite some time, and got inspired when I found The Juice Box. They are a local Vancouver company that truly believes in the health benefits of juicing. My dad is an avid juicer, and I love going home to a few green drinks! It may not be easy, but I think it’s worth it to cleanse your system once in a while. So far, the orange cucumber juice has me feeling great! The Juice Box is the only organic, cold-pressed juice delivery service in Vancouver. The owner dropped off our juices last night and was so enthusiastic that I couldn’t wait for this morning to start! We’ll see how I feel in a few hours 😉

 

How could you be unexcited about something so colourful and healthy!

So, why do a juice cleanse? I checked out their FAQ’s and loved this answer:

HOW CAN I EXPECT TO FEEL DURING MY CLEANSE?

This varies from person to person. It really depends on your diet. If you are a vegan or if you eat meat in moderation and a large amount of vegetables your cleansing reactions will likely be less than that of someone who eats a lot of processed foods. But if you are someone who eats a lot of processed foods, that is ALL THE MORE reason to do a cleanse. Yes, you may feel tired or have a headache during your cleanse. This will pass as the toxins you have accumulated are expelled.

Have an amazing and healthy week!!

Food Books

I love reading books about chefs, and food in general. Sometimes I want something more than a cookbook…I want a story to get enthralled in. Here are some books I loved and books I’ve been meaning to read.

What are your favourite books about food/cooking?

 

Top row from left to right:

Life On The Line: I’m currently reading this book. Grant was a chef at Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry, did a stage at the infamous El Bulli, and eventually went on to run his own restaurant. If you love food and great restaurant experiences, you’ll love this book.

Yes, Chef: This was a book that I read over my winter holiday. It was a page-turner and an absolute pleasure to read. Learning about Samuelsson’s life through his own words and experience made me want to go to his restaurant in Harlem ASAP (not that I need another reason to pine for NYC).

Kitchen Confidential: Probably the harshest of all three books, Bourdain tells it like it is. It’s graphic, intense, and a completely accurate portrayal of kitchen life.

Bottom row left to right (I have yet to read these):

French Kids Eat Everything, My Berlin Kitchen and The Table Comes First

Don’t forget to keep voting on the right!

Have a great week.

 

 

“Pici”

A couple of years ago, Peter and I were walking around Florence on a quiet afternoon, thinking about doing something spontaneous. I had a few restaurants written down that I wanted to try out, but we didn’t end up finding them and instead stumbled upon Trattoria 4 Leoni in Piazza della Passera. This specific piazza was full of locals – always a good sign, and 4 Leoni was packed to the brim of Italian-speaking patrons. I knew we had hit the jackpot. Best of all, they seated us without a reservation! I later found out that this was a very popular restaurant, but it was really fun to simply stumble upon it.

Trattoria 4 Leoni

When reading over the menu, I noticed a dish based on the Tuscan noodle, “Pici.” Pici is basically thick spaghetti that is always homemade. While it’s pretty easy to make, I usually use spaghetti for a last-minute throw-it-together Tuesday night dish. If I’m cooking this on the weekends, it’ll get the special Pici treatment. This is a recipe I have been working on for about two years, and I think I finally have it perfect. I was actually thinking, and I think it would be perfect with Orecchiette as well, to catch the small pieces of sausage.

All of the ingredients

Ready to eat!

“Pici” on our favourite Italian plates

“Pici” with Sausage
serves 2 as a main course

100g dry spaghetti
salt for pasta water
2 tbsp olive oil, separated
2 italian sausages, removed from casing
1 carrot, diced
1 piece of celery, diced
50g pecorino romano, grated
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp panko breadcrumbs
2 tbsp parsley, minced

1. Bring water and salt to boil for pasta. When boiling, cook for 10-12 mins.
2. Add all other ingredients (except oil and parsley) together. Mix thoroughly with hands.
3. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in frying pan. When hot, add sausage mixture.
4. Cook, breaking up sausage as you go, for about 10 minutes or until cook through.
5. Add cooked spaghetti directly to frying pan, retaining some of the pasta water.
6. Toss, adding a little more olive oil if necessary.
7. Serve topped with parsley.

Enjoy!

I should really add a Pici tutorial as well – what do you think?

PS – I am ten votes behind 1st place –> VOTE!

Spinach Berry Smoothie

Everyone has their morning routine. While I consider myself a routine person, I seem to switch up my breakfast choices on a weekly basis. This week I’ve been stuck on smoothies as a delicious, refreshing, and energizing way to start the day and put off hunger until my mid-morning snack of an apple and tea. This is the recipe I’ve been using, but there are many ways that you can change it: add yogurt, use water instead of almond milk, use different fruit, add kale,  you name it!

What are some of your favourite smoothie recipes?

Happy friday!

PS –> I’m almost in FIRST PLACE –> vote here –>

Couscous Salad with Roasted Chickpeas

Most of the recipes I share on this website are recipes that I find through extensive online research and my favourite cookbooks in-house. One of my goals for 2013 was to create more recipes from scratch, without looking at any cookbooks or any online recipes. I have to tell you, that this one was a booming success! I always happen to think of new recipes right as I’m falling asleep, and I usually think I’ll remember that in the morning, and I never do. This time, I wrote down my ideas on my iPhone and thought about the recipe for a couple days before finally trying it out last night.

As you all know, I am currently enrolled in an MBA program that finishes in August. This semester has been really exciting as we start to figure out our career path, and we have been lucky enough to have some amazing courses. In marketing today, we will be discussing the famous El Bulli Restaurant. I’m not sure it’s possible for me to be more excited. After finishing reading the case, I watched clips from the film. Here is one I found particularly funny…they are so precise when testing recipes:

Armed with some inspiration from incredible chefs and even more awe-inspiring recipes, I set out to make something a little bit different, that combined unexpected flavour profiles, and this is what I came up with! It was hard not to eat my own salad + the salad I made for class!

Washing parsley – make sure it is really dry before chopping!

Topping the Greens with Couscous

Adding the Dressing

Couscous salad with roasted chickpeas and grapefruit vinaigrette

Couscous Salad with Roasted Chickpeas with a Grapefruit Vinaigrette

1 1/3 uncooked couscous
1 can chickpeas, drained and patted dry
t tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
1 tbsp green onion, chopped
Handful of greens (optional)

Dressing:
1 grapefruit, juiced
6 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 pinch of red pepper flakes

1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. Toss chickpeas with cumin, olive oil, and salt and roast in oven for 30-40 minutes (shake often).
3. Cook couscous as per package directions (I used butter for more flavourful results)
4. Put greens, parsley and green onion into a large bowl.
5. Add together all ingredients except oil into small bowl for dressing. Whisk. Add oil slowly while whisking vigorously.
6. Allow couscous to cool slightly. Remove chickpeas from oven.
7. Place greens in the bowl, couscous on top and dress the salad.
8. Just before serving, add chickpeas.

I hope this inspires you to try your own creations. If not, try this one!

 

Daydreaming…about kitchens

Have you all joined the Pinterest craze? I love Pinterest because it enables me to save loads of images and websites without writing them down or crowding up my bookmarks bar. One of the things I absolutely love to pin is kitchens. It’s so funny to see one’s style come to light through all of the images that are pinned. For example, I had no idea that I loved mostly white kitchens with black accents and pops of colour and a rustic feel, but if you look at my dream kitchen page, you would notice immediately! I think it’s a great way to get our inspiration in one place, so that one day, we can look back and understand what it is that we want. I absolutely love my kitchen now, so I won’t be using these images for a long time, but for now I thought I’d share some drool-worthy kitchens with you, to get you in a cooking mood on a quiet Tuesday night!

 

 

I love the rustic feel of the bottom left image. I can just see preparing a huge feast there, using the counter to chop and putting everything together in a beautiful, yet imperfect way. How amazing are the windows in the top right kitchen? And the pantry that looks like a restaurant in the bottom right?? Amazing.

Please remember to vote for me (link on the side) for Best Student Blog! I’d really appreciate it. I’m almost in third place!

Have a great week. Check back on Friday for the best waffles I’ve ever made!