restaurant review - el mirasol, and some more buenos aires photos

I enjoyed this swanky salad at El Mirasol, a restaurant in Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires. I've made it at home a couple times now.. it's somthing special. I recommend making it for someone you like.. (as opposed to someone you don't) because the ingredients are all pretty pricey. Boy, I'm on a roll with the alliterations tonight...

Ingredients:
1. Golden delicious apples.. or a different variety, as long as it is crunchy and not too too sweet. Peel apples and dice into little cubes.
2. Avocadoes - not too ripe! Dice into bigger pieces.
3. Hearts of palm :) mmm... sliced, and broken if they are too big around.
4. Carrots, finely shredded.
6. Walnuts. It isn't necessary to soak and dehydrate them.. but they taste SO much better that way. Up to you.
7. Ideas for additions: spinach (just a little)... I can't think of more now.. I'll come back to this list.

The Dressing:
Olive oil with a squeeze of lemon and a SMALL pinch of salt. There may have been a little vinegar used as well, at the restaurant.. but.. I'm not positive.

See the man in white in the corner of the photo? He's wearing really tall stilts.

Caminito

Yep, there's me, getting my dance on.. pretty much everywhere I could.

steamed artichoke and a dip

I don't know why, but I never made steamed artichoke myself before my trip to Buenos Aires. I don't think it's a staple food there or anything.. but my grandma made it as a snack, and I soaked up as many recipes from her as I could while we lived together. Also.. it was spring there, and artichokes were everywhere. Missouri isn't lucky enough to host artichokes.

Here's how ya do it:

1. Slice about 3/4 inch to an inch off the tip of the artichokes.

2. Pull off any smaller leaves towards the base and on the stem.

3. Cut excess stems, leaving up to an inch on the artichoke.

4. Rinse the artichokes in running cold water.

5. Pour a couple inches of water in a pot. Add the artichokes.. (I put mine in so they would stand up.. but I don't think that's necessary)

6. Juice 1/2 a lemon over the tops of the artichokes and add the juiced lemon to the pot. Pour a tbsp or so of olive oil over the tops of the artichokes. Add a 2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed. And lastly, add some salt (and any other spices you'd like).

7. Cover. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer. Cook for 25-45 minutes.. the time depends on the size of the artichoke. You can test it by tasting the outer leaves.


I made a simple dip out of olive oil, dried herbs, and a little vinegar.

And if you don't know how to eat an artichoke... youtube it.

one dish meals with tempeh. one hot one cool..

I haven't been doing much cooking for other people lately.. Just quick-ish meals for myself, meals with one dish. I'm getting ready to go on a 6 week trip to Los Angeles and Buenos Aires.. so I've been working a lot, and not focusing my energy on pretty entrées.

1. Sautéed leek, tempeh, and spinach in olive oil with gluten free tamari sauce. Add leaks to heated oil, then add the tempeh and tamari, then a little water and the spinach leaves (so they will steam a bit).

2. Spinach salad with avocado, tempeh, and red onion. Dressing: olive oil, flax seed oil, lemon juice, honey, and a tiny pinch o'salt.

salmon and mango chutney with a view

While pet sitting at my uncle's house, my boyfriend made me this delicious dinner, of cedar smoked salmon with mango chutney.
Here's how he made the seriously amazing mango chutney:

1 ripe mango, peeled and chopped
1/2 1 leek, sliced and sautéed in olive oil with salt
1 big handful of cilantro, chopped
1 lime, juiced
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Mix and mash all ingredients together and enjoy on just about anything!

raw zucchini linguini with fresh tomato sauce

Hey everyone! Sorry for the big break in posts.. I was on vacation again. Poor me, I know. But before I write about what I ate on my trip - I have to play a little catch up. Here was a meal a friend and I made before I left. I was trying to use up the produce I still had, and in this case - it was a zucchini somewhere between the size of my calf and my thigh. I remember making this recipe once last summer, pre-blog-life.. so I knew I had to make it again to share with you.

The recipe is from one of Williams-Sonoma cookbooks (but I left out the cheese...) The process on this one is slightly tedious.. but worth it! And if you make extra, it keeps in the fridge :) I ate raw zucchini linguini with 4 different toppings over the four days it took me to finish it all. Note: The process goes faster with a friend you need to catch up with.. so.. invite one? When I tasted the finished product, I was immediately brought back to Italy. I lived there for four months, and it was before I knew about all my allergies (thank God).. But since I haven't been able to have dairy, wheat, or even wine, it's been hard to recreate the Italy taste. Garlic, basil, olive oil, and a good tomato will do the trick.

Ingredients:
zucchini, 2 lbs
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
ripe tomatoes, 2 lbs total weight, diced (there's a photo coming up of what a tomato should look like on the inside)
garlic, 2 cloves (because I was making a huge amount.. I probably added more than what the recipe suggested)
fresh basil, cut into thin ribbons (I just used a handful from my herb garden.. the recipe says "leaves from 1/2 a bunch" What? Oh yeah.. basil comes from the grocery store.. I forgot.)
olive oil, 3 tbsp (I hate saying extra virgin.. you know what I mean)
parmesan cheese, small chunk (get permission from your body first, mine says "no.")
Ready?
Using a vegetable peeler, cut zucchini lengthwise into slices about 1/8th inch thick. Carefully place slices in a large bowl and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon salt, and toss gently to coat. Line your workspace with cloth towels and transfer the salted zucchini slices, arranging them in a single layer, and let them stand for 20 minutes.

Turn the slices over and let stand for another 10 minutes. Then gently rinse under cold running water. Using clean towels pat the slices dry, then arrange them in a loose mound on a serving platter. The zucchini should have gone through a transformation - from slimy to crisp.

In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes with their juices, garlic, and basil, and toss gently to mix. Stir in 2 tbsp olive oil, and a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Drizzle the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil over the zucchini and top with a few grinds of pepper. Spoon the tomato mixture evenly over the zucchini, and serve right away.

salad with avocado & artichoke

Hey everyone :)
Right now, I'm in Minneapolis, on another summer trip visiting friends and having adventures :) I'll be back at home in less than a week, so get ready for a flood of posts. But at the moment, it's 2 am on my last night in Minnesota, and I can't fall asleep! I thought I'd at least be productive.. and catch up on a post :)

Here's a photo of the salad I had right before leaving for the megabus. If you don't know about megabus yet, you should. And sorry if it doesn't go to your town - but I made it from Columbia, MO to Chicago to Minneapolis and all the way back for $60. Yeah, I know.

The salad!
Greens (I used a mix of spinach and lettuce)
1/2 avocado, chopped (per person)
3-4 artichoke hearts, quartered (per person)
some wisps of red onion

The dressing!
olive oil + balsamic vinegar, and maybe a little pinch of salt.

enjoy :)

more spring rolls! in the summer... + mint dipping sauce

My 10 year old cousin and I had a sleep over last night.. and we cooked and ate and cooked and ate.. we counted the number of times I had to clean a sink full of dishes. seven. Here's one of the things we made - amazing spring rolls with mint dipping sauce. We ate so many of them that we each got a belly ache, and couldn't even think about making dessert. They were that good.

This meal is as entertaining as going to one of those fancy restaurants where they cook right in front of you.. Everything is hands on, and all age friendly. It even caters to people with different food allergies because you can have different bowls filled with separate ingredients for people to try. I hope you try these - or make your own version of these healthy spring rolls :)

First we prepared all our different fillings:
-grated carrots, onion, and zucchini with little broccoli trees - all sautéed (in Mary's Oil Blend) which is equal parts coconut, olive, and sesame oil) with garlic and fresh ginger
-sautéed slices of mushrooms (in Mary's Oil Blend)
-lettuce, chopped
-green onions, chopped
-rice or mung bean noodles
for these, soak in hot water for 3 minutes, then rinse and strain
-rice paper

Here's a super helpful video on how to roll spring rolls like a pro.

For the mint dipping sauce, mix:
1/4 cup mint leaves, ribboned or chopped
1/4 cup coconut aminos (or soy sauce)
3 tbsp lemon juice (or the juice of 1 lemon)
1 tsp honey

Enjoy!!

coconut aminos

It was 11pm and I had a craving for something salty.. luckily my hand pulled broccoli out of the fridge before I had time to think of something less healthy to munch. So I steamed the broccoli and enjoyed it with my new condiment - coconut aminos!

It tastes like soy sauce, but less salty, and it's not made from soy - but from the sap of the coconut tree! Click here to learn all about it. You can probably find some at your local health food store :)

what's in the fridge salad + some awesome dressing

For lunch today, I ate this salad. It was made up of whatever I had in the fridge.. of course it helps if you keep healthy and fresh and delicious food in your home. Always.

Salad greens - lettuce, kale, arugula, and swiss chard
Carrot - shredded
Artichoke heart - pulled apart
Red onion - thinly sliced
Cucumber - seeded and diced
Walnuts - chopped

For the dressing.. There are two steps to this if you don't already have Mary's Oil Blend.
Mary's oil blend is a combination of coconut, sesame, and olive oils (in equal parts). The idea comes from Dr. Mary Enig and Sally Fallon's book Eat Fat Lose Fat which stresses that coconut oil be a part of one's diet everyday. So! First, I made a big batch of this oil - with 1 cup of each of the 3 oils. Then I made Sally Fallon's herb dressing: (minus the mustard, because I'm actually allergic to that too..)

1/2 cup Mary's Oil Blend
2 tbsp + 1 tsp raw wine vinegar
1 tbsp flax oil.
(1 tsp Dijon style mustard - if you must)
1 tsp finely chopped fresh herbs (I used parsley, oregano, basil, and some rosemary)

Because there's flax oil in this, I recommend storing it in the fridge. Enjoy!

(All of the oils I use are expeller or cold pressed, as well as organic.)

restaurant review - live

My cousin took me out to Live, an organic food bar in Toronto.. and it was to die for. Check out their website to drool over their menu, and get inspired by some of the descriptions.

I enjoyed the big bowl:
"A high protein salad mix of field greens, and kale topped with carrots, beets, tomatoes, cucumbers, mixed seeds, black beans, avocado, and sunflower sprouts tossed with your choice of dressings. Raw option: Substitute sunflower seed pate for black beans."

With the dilly house dressing:
Made of " cold pressed olive oil, tahini, apple cider vinegar, dill, garlic, wheat free tamari, celtic sea salt"

I also split the smoked reuben with my cousin:
"Our sesame kale and carob 'rye' bread smothered with a spicy sesame mayo, avocado, probiotic sauerkraut and our smoked walnut veggie patty. Served with root veggie chips and dill pickles."

And washed it down with a blues buster smoothie made of:
"Almond milk, blueberry, hemp seeds, apple juice, St. John’s Wort"

I wish I took photos of everything I ordered, but it all disappeared before I had time to think, about taking my camera out. Dessert was so hard to choose.. all their desserts were made without flour, gluten, or refined sugar.. I ended up with something small, an almond dream bar, due to the lack of room left in my stomach.

I'm going to try to reproduce some of their desserts, and when I figure them out - I'll let you know for sure :)

to-go where? to school.

Yummy day at school with my to-go ware lunch "box."

I packed a salad of butter lettuce, my special walnuts, and a 1/4 of a tomato (seeded, in case it wasn't obvious) with some sesame ginger salad dressing.
+
an avocado with a side of sea salt, and a handful of crispy almonds (prepared the same way as the walnuts)
YUM!

spicy honey lemon salad

Day 2 of millet.. I'm enjoying it now cold.. in my salad of spinach, red onion and carrots.

Here's the recipe for the spicy honey lemon dressing I mentioned the other day. It's from the Anti-Inflamation Diet and Recipe Book:

2/3 cup lemon juice (3-4 lemons)
1/2 cup honey (or a vegan sweetener)
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tsp salt
generous pinch of cayenne pepper

Mix! Done! Goes wonderfully over spinach.

mushroom nut loaf with cashew gravy

This recipe came from one of my many cookbooks.. The Gluten-Free Vegan, to be exact. Page 95 to be even more exact. Mushrooms were on sale at my market.. so I made this.. and the next post will be full of mushrooms too!

Serves 4.
Oven! 350. and have a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan ready to go.

2 tbsp olive oil
1 cups onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 cups mushrooms, chopped
3/4 cup raw cashews, chopped
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup Marsala cooking wine (I used a dry white sherry)
1 tbsp arrowroot powder
juice of one lemon
1/4 cup sorghum flour
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
lots of freshly ground pepper

1. preheat oven.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and pour in oil. When hot, add onion and saute until soft (5-6 min). Add garlic, mushrooms, nuts, and continue to cook, stirring often. If mixture begins to stick to the bottom, add a little more oil.
3. Add wine, arrowroot, lemon juice, four, rosemary, and thyme. Continue to cook while it thickens, another 1-2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper then press the mixture into a loaf pan.
4. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until browned on top. Serve in slices.
(I couldn't wait long enough for mine to set - so my slices.. were more like delicious scoops of mushroom nut loaf!) Oh! I almost forgot.. I put cashew gravy on top!

The Cashew Gravy (pg 172 of the same book!)

Oven! 300.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup raw cashews
2 tsp wheat-free tamari
1 tsp dried parsley
pinch of Italian seasoning
1 tsp arrowroot powder
1 cup water
sea salt
freshly cracked pepper

1. Preheat oven then roast cashews on a cookie sheet for about 15 minutes, until very lightly browned.
2. Place cashews in a food processor and blend until very very fine. Add the tamari sauce, parsley, Italian seasoning, arrowroot powder, and water and blend until smooth (1-2 minutes)
3. Pour the mix into a saucepan and heat to boiling, stirring constantly. You may need to add a bit more water to keep the mixture from becoming too thick. Lower the heat, and cook through, about 1-2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Good work, and Enjoy!!

roasted garlic olive tapenade

Yes. Another olive tapenade. This one is quite different than the previous ones. It is a lot more refreshing tasting..and sharp.. if that makes any sense.

1 can of ripe black olives, drained
1 bulb of garlic, roasted
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp dried savory
1 tbsp lemon juice
3 big shakes of shallot salt (one of my new yummy seasonings from a spice shop. my version of being in a candy shop)
love

1. roast the garlic. here's how, just in case. this takes about 40 minutes, and will make your kitchen smell amazing.
2. add the dried spices to the olive oil, and let them sit while the garlic is roasting
3. add all the ingredients to a food processor/blender and wa-la!
4. I enjoyed this with some gluten-free, vegan crackers.. and if there were any left I would eat it on pretty much everything else.

chimichurri

Here's a delicious dip/topping for ALL kinds of meat and bread.. This is a recipe from my Argentine grandmother. I used to eat it on a french roll with chorizo as a kid.. and that was amazing. Tonight I made some and ate it on top of some cedar smoked salmon. Not the traditional way to eat chimichurri, but it didn't matter :)

A bunch of parsley (chopped super small)
A 3, or 4, or 5 cloves of garlic (minced)
The juice of a lemon
Salt (to taste)
Oil (I used a mixture of olive and flax seed oils.. but only because I didn't have grape seed oil.. which is what my grandmother uses.)

There are many many chimichurri recipes online.. and I recommend trying them! Have a different recipe every time.. until you find your absolute favorite.

omega 3 salad dressing

Thanks Jordan Rubin for this insanely healthy dressing. Like salad isn't healthy enough.

1/2 cup flax seed oil
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp lemon juice
sea salt or spice blend to taste (I used 1/4 tsp basil, 1/4 tsp thyme, 1/8 tsp garlic powder, & 1/8 tsp salt)

strawberry sauce

This is my old ice cream recipe with strawberry sauce..
All I did was take some over ripe - about to be compost strawberries,
chop them up
put them in a sauce pan
with a little water and honey
.. and simmer.. for a while.
take them off the heat, mashed them around
that's it!
Refrigerate if you want to serve it cold.
Why does anyone ever use sugar!?