All posts tagged: foodie

Vegan Kabocha Squash Curry

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Seasonal squash gets a spicy twist in this recipe for Vegan Kabocha Squash Curry. Kabocha squash is simmered in a flavourful Thai Red Curry sauce with other fresh vegetables. Served with freshly steamed rice, and you have a spicy vegan recipe that is perfect for fall and winter! What is Kabocha Squash? Kabocha is a type of winter squash that is in season during the fall months. It grows through the summer in a long trailing vine (just like a pumpkin) and produces gorgeous green-skinned squash by September. If stored in a cool and dark place, it will keep throughout the winter months, so you can enjoy the squash even in the cold months of February. Although kabocha is green on the outside, if you cut one open, you will see that the flesh is a beautiful golden orange colour. The overall flavour of kabocha squash is almost like a chestnut with lots of nutty notes. It also has a dense texture, very similar to a taro root. Plus, the skin is actually edible and …

Smoked Gouda, Garlic & Cauliflower Soup

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Soup season is here! With the days getting darker and colder, it’s the perfect time to snuggle up and have a delicious bowl of hearty soup. This Smoked Gouda, Garlic & Cauliflower Soup is comforting fall recipe in itself. However, it gets a refreshing bite with the addition of a fresh herb and crunchy garlic garnish.  Read on down below on how to make this tasty soup recipe! Recipe in collaboration with Red Barn Market.

West Coast Mushroom Galette

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Fall is a special time for mushroom lovers since so many varieties come into season! I use Chanterelle, Oyster and Cremini mushrooms in this delicious and seasonal recipe for my West Coast Mushroom Galette! You can forage your own mushrooms (if you have some expertise in mushroom foraging) or you can simply buy mushrooms at your local grocery store. Plus, this recipe allows you to combine whichever mushrooms are your favourite into this savoury galette! Read on down below to see which mushrooms I chose for my West Coast Mushroom Galette plus some tips on how to make the perfect pie dough and homemade ricotta cheese! Wild & Commercially Grown Mushrooms For my West Coast Mushroom Galette, I like to combine both wild and commercially grown mushrooms. Although wild mushrooms are a bit fancier, they come with a much higher price tag than regular commercially grown mushrooms. So instead of spending a fortune on this meal, I like to use some commercial mushrooms as a base and then accent it with some high end wild …

Salted Caramel Apples

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Halloween is one of my favourite holidays of the year, and I can’t officially celebrate it without a caramel apple. This classic combination of fresh tart apples and sweet caramel is the perfect flavour combination and is quintessential during the fall season. This year, I have decided to glam up this traditional Halloween recipe and make it fun for adults, with the addition of a sprinkle of fancy sea salt flakes. This adds beautiful texture and flavour to the apples, plus it looks absolutely stunning! Read on down below to learn how to make these Salted Caramel Apples! 🍎🍏 Which Apple Variety to Choose? During the fall, there are tons of fresh and seasonal apple varieties to choose from. And really, you can use whichever apple is your favourite in this Salted Caramel Apples recipe! If you have read my Apple Cider & Honey Pork Chops post, you all know that I absolutely love Honeycrisp apples. They are sweet and tart at the same time and I really love how it compliments the caramel in this …

Apple Cider & Honey Pork Chops

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If you’re looking for a recipe with ALL the flavours of fall, these Apple Cider & Honey Pork Chops are it! Pork chops are stewed in fresh apples and onions that get nice and soft and tender. Plus to add a bit more zip, I add black pepper, cayenne pepper and apple cider vinegar. Local honey rounds out this entire recipe making it slightly sweet and bringing all these delicious fall flavours together! Honeycrisp: The Apple of Choice For these Apple Cider & Honey Pork Chops, my apple of choice is the Honeycrisp apple. This is probably one of my favourite apples to eat during the fall since they are sweet and tangy. They’re also called ‘Honeycrisp‘ for a reason as they are incredibly crunchy and juicy! When cooked, Honeycrisp apples also retain their shape fairly well and have a nice soft texture. Honeycrisp apples are a beautiful red colour with yellow underneath. Inside, the flesh is a nice firm texture and is a very light yellow, almost white, in colour. When buying Honeycrisp apples, …

Bruschetta Chicken

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Summer is the time for tomatoes and there are TONS of ways to enjoy them. One of my favourite ways is to make my recipe for Bruschetta Chicken! This dish is fresh, healthy, and full of traditional Italian bruschetta flavours. Red on down below to see how I make this recipe! What is Bruschetta? There are many different variations of bruschetta, but the most famous version is from Italy. Toasted bread is topped with a mixture of fresh diced tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and basil. There are so few ingredients, but as the Italians do, they always use what is in season and tastes the best–so basically all their recipes tastes delicious!  There are other seasonal variations that have been adopted in North America, where toasted bread is topped with ricotta cheese and then the tomato-based bruschetta mixture. I have even fall-inspired bruschettas using seasonal squash. No matter what, the traditional Italian recipe is the best! My Take on Bruschetta Chicken One key difference between this Bruschetta Chicken recipe and others that are out there …

Pork & Bacon (Porkception) Skewers with Peanut Dipping Sauce and Mango Salad

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These Pork & Bacon Skewers are my latest and greatest creation! Tender pork chop meat is marinated in a delicious ginger-molasses marinade and is skewered between a thick slice of Double Smoked Bacon from Red Barn Market. You can also call these Porkception Skewers. Grilled to perfection on the BBQ and served with a refreshing mango salad and peanut dipping sauce– these skewers are perfect for upcoming summer BBQs! #KitchenImprovYYJ Challenge I came up with this idea for a recipe from participating in the #KitchenImprovYYJ cookoff, where each week we were given a list of ingredients that we had to make a recipe with. During the final week of the competition, our ingredients were: apple, coffee, bacon and peanut butter. While many people would think to make a sweet recipe, I opted for savoury just to be a bit different. Plus, I love savoury foods way more than sweet foods! And so these Pork & Bacon Skewers were born! I marinated the pork chop with ginger, molasses (for that sweet and smoky flavour), maple syrup, …

Thai Red Curry Noodles

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While we may have lots of time at home these days to cook and experiment with new recipes while staying at home, sometimes you just want a quick and easy meal made with just a few ingredients. Or even better, a quick and easy meal made with ingredients that you already have in your fridge and pantry!  These Thai Red Curry Noodles are super simple and come together in under 20 minutes. Plus this recipe can be easily adapted to use whatever vegetables you have in your fridge as well as to any vegan, vegetarian, or pescatarian diet.  Exploring the Fridge and Pantry If you take a look in your fridge and pantry, I guarantee that you will find a few ingredients that you’ve had in there for a long time. In the fridge, my condiment drawers on the door of my fridge is the main culprit, as it often has a mix of frequently used condiments and sauces, or really old ones that have only been used one or twice. Similarly, when I dive …

Vegetable Spring Rolls

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Happy Chinese New Year! To celebrate the Year of the Rat, I am serving up lots of delicious Chinese dishes for this big day, including one of my most favourite Chinese recipes: Vegetable Spring Rolls! One of the Best Crowd-Pleasing Recipes These Vegetable Spring Rolls are a crowd-pleaser for many reasons. They are warm, crispy and full of delightful vegetables and noodles. Plus, they can be enjoyed by everyone—vegetarians included! For the filling, I combine shredded carrots, cabbage, woodear mushrooms, scallions, rice noodles, and a few key Chinese sauces and oils. Then, I wrap the filling in store-bought spring roll wraps (yay for convenience!) before they are plunged into a pot of oil and are deep fried until crispy. I have another recipe for Baked Spring Rolls that works great too, but I like to deep-fry these when celebrating special events such as Chinese New Year. Once they come out of the fryer, I drain the excess oil and serve them warm with a side of Plum Sauce for dipping. As I was crunched for …

Cheese & Thyme Gougères

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We are on the last day of 2019 and I can’t believe what an exciting (and tasty) year it’s been! From making tons of delicious recipes to doing my first paid collaboration to starting a YouTube channel (!), it’s been so fun and so rewarding to have this outlet to do what I love and share it with so many others who love food! Of course, I could not let this year go out without a bangin’ recipe, so for the final post in my #AppyHolidays series, I am sharing this wonderful recipe for my Cheese & Thyme Gougères! These are the perfect treat to ring in the new year and go great with a glass of bubbly! 🍾 What are Gougères? Gougères are these little delicious cheesy puffs that are incredibly light and airy. The base is made of choux pastry, which consists of flour, water, and butter. These are cooked over the stove until the dough comes together in a nice smooth ball. After that, whole eggs are mixed in one at a …