Green Curry Bowls

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This was the curry that I made all the time before I discovered my Amazing Curry. Gen used to demand I make it whenever guests came over. It started with chicken, then tofu, then beef. It is adjustable, simple, and easy. It starts with a protein, coconut milk, and green curry paste (I use Cock Brand…). It is so simple and can have any veggies added to it. I typically add broccoli, green beans, red and/or yellow peppers, and a squirt of lime. But I’ve definitely tried brussels sprouts, potatoes, green peppers, carrots, cabbage, asparagus, etc. It is versatile.

Green curry delight.

I am going to give you the base for this curry and you should feel free to adjust as desired. It is an awesome, easy recipe.

Green Curry

Ingredients

  • 2 cans coconut milk
  • 2 chicken breasts cubed /or/ 1.5 lbs cubed beef /or/ 1 block of firm tofu cubed
  • 1-2 tbsp green curry paste (Cock Brand or whatever you prefer)
  • 2 heads of broccoli chopped
  • 1 large pepper chopped
  • 1 large leek, white part only, sliced
  • 3 fresh basil leaves
  • 1 lime
  • quinoa

Directions

Getting ready to cook. That's the good curry paste there. Leeks for life!

  1. Cube your protein, brown in a large pot with some coconut oil or other favourite oil. Add a tbsp of curry paste to start.
  2. Pour in your two cans of coconut milk.
  3. Chop your veggies, rinse the leek clean.

Ready for the pot!

4. Add the leeks and broccoli to the meat and coconut milk. These two take the longest to cook. (If you are using other veggies, make a call on how quickly they will cook through and time them accordingly) ALSO: At this point taste the curry to see if you need to add another spoon or two of curry paste. We worked ourselves up from 1 tbsp to almost 3 over the years.

First round of veggies.

5. Cook for about 5 minutes, until broccoli is tender-crisp. Add basil and peppers and allow to cook for a couple of minutes.

6. Serve over quinoa, rice, steamed veggies, etc. with a squeeze of lime.

Yummy.

Beer Bread and Caprese Sandwich

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This is my second load of beer bread, the first baked a few months ago when I wanted a grill cheese. Gen and I don’t normally buy bread (he eats it way too quickly) so when I have the rare craving for a sandwich I try to make something from scratch. I’ve made a couple of other breads in the past.

Me in my pjs baking bread circa 2010.

The loaf above was my first, just a plain white bread. Tasty but nothing special. So far last month’s Spicy Cheddar Irish Soda Bread has been my favourite because of its flavour and crumb. But today’s beer bread was a pretty big hit and will come back for sure.

This beer bread is fluffy and light on the inside with a substantial crust. I added some spices for extra flavour but feel free to omit these, it stands up on its own!

Easy Beer Bread

Ingredients

  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp thyme
  • 1/4 tsp oregano
  • 1/4 tsp chili powder
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 (12 ounce) can/bottle dark beer
  • 1/3 cup melted butter

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Whisk together dry ingredients (as opposed to sifting, I don’t have a sifter but I find whisking helps this).

    Ready for the brewski.

  3. Pour beer into dry ingredients and mix until combined, will be sticky.
  4. Plop the dough into a loaf pan lined with parchment paper, cover the dough with melted butter.

    Buttered. Ready for the oven.

  5. Bake appx 1 hour (check at 50 mins, my oven runs hot), remove from pan and cool on a rack for 15 minutes.

    Yum.

    And what should you do with this bread? Oh, how about make a delicious sandwich?!

    Caprese Sandwich made with Beer Bread

    • Beer bread
    • Fresh mozzarella (preferably di bufala)
    • Tomato
    • Basil
    • Olive oil
    • Salt and pepper
    Slice the cheese, bread, and tomato. Lightly drizzle a pan with olive oil, layer in bread, cheese, tomato, basil, salt and pepper, and top with a drizzle of olive oil. Top with another slice of beer bread. Brown both sides of the sandwich, eat.

    Ignoring the holiday plate, this was a gorgeous and tasty lunch.

    New, delicious sandwich made for me by my sister. Beer bread, honey ham, marble cheese, poached egg, grilled together to perfection.

Cabbage Taco Salad- Homemade Taco Spice Mix

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I love making my own spice mixes. Ever since discovering that curry spice combo I’ve been looking for other ways to make my own spice blends. Tacos are not a favourite of mine but Gen loves them. I had intended to make fresh corn tortillas and do a tutorial for those (they are infinitely better than any store-bought ones) but horrifyingly I found that some bugs had made it into my Masa Harina and I had to chuck the batch. I am guessing they bunked down on the move from Calgary to Vancouver, but either way it was a bummer.

Plan B was taco salad. Gen has turned me into a cabbage eater. We never have lettuce with our tacos; the cabbage is crisp and cold and everything that lettuce is but more! It stands up well to the other ingredients and offers it’s own subtle bite. Anyway, I made this awesome taco seasoning and put the rest out for us to make delicious salads!

Cabbage Taco Salad

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs ground beef (or TVP, or lentils, chickpeas, etc.)
  • 2 tbsp chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tbsp ground cumin
  • 2 tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 head green cabbage shredded
  • 1/2 red onion sliced
  • 1 small bunch parsley
  • salsa
  • greek yogurt
  • 1/2 lime

Directions

  1. Mix together your spices in a small bowl. It will make more than you need, save the rest for another time.

    I forgot to take pictures with all the spices out. This is the leftover spice mix.

  2. Brown the ground beef (or TVP or lentils) in a large pot with some coconut oil. Drain.
  3. Place the meat back into the pot, sprinkle 2-3 tbsp of the taco spices over top. Stir to coat the meat with the spices. Taste and add more if needed. Pour in 1/4 cup of water, stir and let simmer for a few minutes.
  4. Pile shredded cabbage on a plate. Top with taco meat, salsa, yogurt, sliced onions. Drizzle everything with lime and plunk some parsley on top.
  5. Yum. Genesis quote, “Refreshing, tasty, crunchy. We should eat this every week.” He actually suggested I replace my curry with this… not happening. This was super tasty and is sure to resurface many times this summer but that curry makes my heart sing. Case closed.

Meat all ready for the salads.

Ready to make some salads. Greek yogurt all the things!

Strawberries and Cream Crepes

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This is a super easy recipe with everything you might have on hand. I started making crepes in the first year of my undergrad. I would make the crepes and my friend/roommate Carly would make bacon. We’d sit down with our other roommate and pass the plates of crepes and bacons between us, each taking turns rolling up a crepe and eating it before we passed it on to the next person. Ooooh being 18.

To this day, I am a crepe roller. Anyway, I made up this recipe after trying a quite a few. I figured out the proportions that worked best for texture and flavour. These can also be made savory (Gen is not a sweet fan) but today I needed to use up my extra strawberry puree from my Chocolate-Dipped Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes. So, here we go, simple crepes with a simple sauce!

Delicious crepes to start the day!

Strawberry and Cream Simple Crepes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 1/4 cup milk (more if needed)
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 egg
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • strawberry puree
  • half-whipped whipping cream
  • powdered sugar

Directions

  1. Whisk together all of the ingredients for the crepes (flour, milk, sugar, baking powder, egg, salt, vanilla). Add more milk if needed, until you’ve reached a thin but still solid consistency… can coat a spoon but not too thick. * this is a trial and error thing.

Ready for the pan

2. Drop a tbsp or so of coconut oil (or any other mild flavour oil) into a large pan and heat to medium-hot. Ladle a scoop of batter into the pan and swirl to fill. The first crepe is an oil-absorber, it soaks up the extra oil and leaves the pan ready for the rest.

Yum.

3. Continue to pour scoops of batter into the pan. Flip when the crepe just stops looking wet. As the pan get’s hotter this happens quick, I recommend turning down your heat a notch or two once things are going. Slide finished crepes onto a plate in a stack.

4. Mix your leftover strawberry puree (or make strawberry puree: strawberries sliced with a sprinkle of sugar, let them sit and juice for an hour, puree with a handblender) with some shaken whipping cream. I literally just took some leftover whipping cream from the fridge and shook it until it thickened slightly. Stir together but not completely, it is nice to have some nice swirls.

5. Smear your crepes with the strawberries and cream sauce, sprinkle with some powdered sugar, rollup, sprinkle again with some powdered sugar.

6. Eat.

Ready for mouth.

Caprese Salad

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Not much of a recipe but a celebration! I love Caprese Salad. I could eat it daily.

Oh dear. Deliciousness.

Mozzarella di Bufala (or if you don’t have this, a soft cow mozzarella, though it wont be as amazing)

Extra virgin olive oil

Basil

Ripe tomato

Slice the cheese and tomato. Rip the basil leaves over everything. Drizzle with olive oil. Devour.