My Easter Weekend, Part 1- The Bridal Shower

So this weekend was a pretty exciting one, as I was given a SUPER GREAT bridal shower by my sister.

It began with me arriving the night before with my friend Andrea and Matthew, and seeing some of these decorations:

Pretty cute eh? Those little lanterns were so adorable! She even got the tablecloth you see in the first one to match them! It was very very pretty (I have a great sister!)
Next, she plunked this down in front of me:

Apparently, she stopped at David's Tea on the way to get some iced tea, and they asked why she was dressed so fancy. She replied that she was going to her little sister's bridal shower, and they gave her a bag of this tea to give me FOR FREE. David's Tea is great! (even if they hadn't given me free tea, they have all sorts of great teas!)
So moving on, Krista pulled out all sorts of delicious foodstuffs, including, of course, different types of hummus.

And then my other sister Jolene brought some DIVINE gluten free vegan cupcakes (remind me to get the recipe!) They were awesome.

Look at that thing? I totally had about five of them!

Krista also made some delicious pink lemonade, and my friend Andrea cut up a billion lemon slices to go in it, and it looked super super pretty!

Everything seemed to coordinate beautifully (even my top, which was a total accident, haha)
So tonnes of wonderful people came, and I got lots of wonderful presents, including cookbooks from my childhood friend Meaghan:

I'm pretty excited to try some of these recipes, especially the ones in the gluten free vegan comfort food, which have some of the most fabulous looking recipes for semi junk food that I've ever seen, and as you can see by that little roll in that photo, I love me my comfort food :)
Also, check out these adorable salt and pepper shakers! They're kissing!

The bridal shower was wonderful, and my sister did an AMAZING job! I have the best family and friends, and am incredibly lucky!

Old Food- Peach Raspberry Cherry Pie

I was recently going through some old pictures I found on a portable harddrive, and came across some delicious looking food from 2 years ago. And I came across this gem of a photo:

Ignore the man in the Sundowner shirt for now, and focus on my Reebok sporting friend Pak Kei, who is holding what appears to be a raspberry peach cherry pie.  Matthew informs me we were having a dinner party in the summer that consisted of only eating pies, and these were my contributions.

But think about that pie description for a second. Raspberry Peach Cherry Pie. How divine does that sound? Here's a closeup:

One of the raspberries appears to be still frozen, so I think that it was pre-baking. Here's how I imagine it went down:

Peach Raspberry Cherry Pie
Ingredients:
1 Pie crust of your choice
some frozen peaches
Frozen raspberries
1 can of cherry pie filling
A bit of sugar (if it's not sweet enough)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350
Take some whole raspberries and peaches, and pull out a few of the cherries, and set aside for some decorative fun.
Take the remaining pie filling, some peaches, and some raspberries, and chuck it all in the food processor, processing until it's smoothish, but still has chunks. Taste. If it's not sweet enough, add a bit of sugar.
Roll our your pie crust and stick it in a pan. Add in the pie filling. Make a decorative pattern on top.
Bake your pie until bubbly and crust is browned. It'll look like this:

Nom nom nom! I think I need to remake this soon! :) Also, how awesome was our painting in our old kitchen? When we move in July to our new place we def needs to do more funky painting!

Creamy Cashew Pasta

I used to love fettucini alfredo. Love it. I think my prom date even made some for me before the prom, because I used to eat it like it was going out of style.

Since finding out that most of my health problems were caused by what I was eating, I could no longer indulge in the sweetness that is Fettucini Alfredo. This, however, does not mean that I can't have a similar, delicious foodstuff! BEHOLD!

Cashew Cream and White Wine Pasta
Ingredients:
1 Serving of pasta of your choice, cooked (I used rice vermicelli) 
5 stalks of asparagus, chopped into pieces, very ends discarded
a handful of sliced mushrooms
1 tsp olive oil

Sauce
1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked overnight
1/2 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp tamari
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp onion powder
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 cup white wine
Salt, Pepper, Basil
1/2-2 tsp cornstarch, depending on how thick you want it.
Water

Directions:
In a blender, blend together all of the sauce ingredients, adding a bit of water at a time, until it is smooth, thick, and creamy (the texture of heavy cream). Taste, and feel free to adjust the various ingredients to your liking.
Heat the olive oil in a saute pan or wok, and add the mushrooms, sauteing for a few minutes until browned. Add in the asperagus, and cook for about a minute, until they start to get bright and green.
Very quickly add in the sauce, mixing together with the veggies. Stir constantly (or it will stick to the pan and burn) until the sauce is bubbly and thickened.
Toss the sauce with the pasta, and serve, enjoying the tastesplosion of happiness!

Massaman Curry

Mini Natalia shopping at a market in Thailand

When I was very little, we spent a year living in other places around the world. The place we stayed the longest at (long enough for me to attend school, and then refuse to go back to school in a temper tantrum) was Songkla, Thailand. We lived in a little house attached to other little houses, and hung out with the neighborhood children, and met people who were very different from us.

I think that this time I spent in Asia really shaped my tastebuds, as I grew up not really enjoying traditional "american" style food like meatloaf, and hamburgers (mac and cheese being my big exception) and instead loving the Thai food my mother would make, like fried wontons (called golden bags in her little cookbook) and curries.

The curry type that my mother loved to make more than all the others was called Massaman Curry. I don't make it very often, because in order to get Massaman Curry paste I have to go to Chinatown, and search through the little shops, which, while fun, can be time consuming, and in the winter it's so cold I like to stay inside rather than going to Chinatown. However, last weekend Matthew and I decided to go to lunch and get some bubble tea, and we stopped into a grocery store to pick up some bok choy. I saw little cans of Massaman curry paste, and decided "Yes... I'm getting this."

And I made a curry. A delicious, nostalgic curry.

Tofu Massaman Curry
Ingredients
Sauce:
2 Tbsp Massaman Curry Paste
1 Cup coconut milk
1 Cup vegetable stock

Ingredients:
1/2 Block tofu, cubed
1 can straw mushrooms, drained and chopped
1 cup chopped peppers
1/2 diced sweet potato
1 medium sized onion, diced
1 tbsp peanut oil (or another mild oil)
Vermicelli noodles or rice to serve

Directions
Mix together all of the sauce ingredients until smooth. What I then did was add the cubed tofu, and let it sit in the fridge overnight, but this is optional, I just like the flavor to soak into the tofu.
Heat a wok on med-high, and add the oil and onion. Saute until the onions are softened, and add in the mushrooms, peppers, and sweet potato. Saute for about 5 minutes, until the vegetables begin to soften.
Pour in the sauce and tofu, and check consistency of liquid. If it's thick, add in a bit of water or stock, until it's sort of thick, but also soupy. Bring to a boil, and then reduce to low, and allow to simmer.
Continue simmering until the sauce reduces and thickens.I simmered mine for about half an hour, but it might take longer, or shorter. Keep an eye on it, stirring every few minutes.
Serve over noodles or rice, and enjoy the magic.

Afternoon Asparagus Pasta

I love pasta. I love easy. I love delicious. So without Further Ado:

Mushroom Asparagus Spaghetti 
Ingredients
Enough Spaghetti to fill you up :) (I used Quinoa Pasta meself)
A few stalks of asparagus, chopped into pieces

a handful of mushrooms, chopped into pieces
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
Basil, Salt, and Pepper (To taste)
A splash of white wine (no need to get good quality, I used a bottle I found on top of my fridge that was half empty.)

Directions
Cook the pasta. In the last minute, toss in the asparagus to cook it up. Drain in a colander.
Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the garlic and mushrooms, and cook until the mushrooms are browned.
Add in the pasta and asparagus, and begin to toss. Add the wine to deglaze, and sprinkle with the spices. Toss around to coat everything.
Then Eat. It's delicious. And That easy!