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| Right after I did my makeup. |
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| Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, and Female Gene Simmons! |
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| Putting on Sneaks! |
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| At a door with a huge spider! |
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| The Most elaborately decorated house we encountered! |
October 31, 2011
Happy Halloween!
No food today! Just some pictures of my halloween adventures! I went out with the kids I babysit, and we had a blast! For the first time ever, it wasn't too cold!
October 30, 2011
Caramel apple Update
I dressed up the caramel apples to give away to a few people, and I think they turned out pretty cute!
N'est pas?
Garlic Soup
Do you like Garlic?
I myself love garlic, probably to an unhealthy degree. Garlic bread is like manna from heaven. Eating guacamole at my house? Prepare for a garlic overload. I live in a garlicky bliss. For about 2 weeks last winter all I ate was pasta sauteed in some olive oil, white wine, and garlic. (I had some fruit and carrot sticks too, I didn't want to get scurvy after all!)
Fast forwards to last week. Matthew and I have been discussing the ideas for food at our wedding (at my mother's insistence) and I suggested that a tasting menu, maybe finger foods or tapas style, just tonnes of it, might be fun. At Matthew's work there is a wonderful woman named Yuri who loves cooking as much as I do, and she overheard him mention that I was thinking of doing a tapas style menu. The next day she sent him home with three cookbooks about fingerfood and tapas. One of them contained a recipe for something called "Garlic Soup."
Now the garlic soup in that book only has 3 ingredients in common with mine- olive oil, Garlic, and white wine. Besides that, I was on my own, as the recipe was NOT vegan in the least.
But I created this, and I think it turned out wonderfully. It's garlicky, flavorful in other ways, and chock full of veggies! (And wine!)
Garlic Soup- Serves 2 as a meal, or 4 as a starter
Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup white wine
1 cup flavorful veggie stock
5 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
3 spring onions, white parts sliced thinly, and green stalks sliced thicker and set aside.
1 large carrot, peeled into a bunch of ribbons
1 tsp chili sauce (I use Sriracha) (Optional, but it adds a nice zing)
3 cocktail tomatoes, sliced into thin slices
(Cocktail tomatoes, if you haven't heard of them, are larger than cherry tomatoes, but smaller than regular tomatoes- feel free to use either cherry tomatoes, OR smallish (bitesized) tomatoes if your store doesn't have them)
Directions:
In a deep wok or saucepan, heat the olive oil on medium-high heat. Add in the white parts of the spring onions and the garlic slices, and sautee for a minute or two, until the edges of the garlic begin to brown and your whole kitchen starts to smell like yummy garlic. :)
Add in the white wine and stock, and bring to a boil. Once it is boiling, turn it down to simmer.
Add in the carrots, and cook on simmering for about 3 minutes.
Add in the tomatoes and green parts of the onions, and the chili sauce (if using.) Cook for about 2 more minutes to cook away the raw onion taste.
Serve, and enjoy the awesome yummy surprise that is Garlic Soup! The whole cooking process takes about 10 minutes in total, and preparing all of the ingredients also takes about 10 minutes, so you could be enjoying a delicious dinner in under half an hour!
I myself love garlic, probably to an unhealthy degree. Garlic bread is like manna from heaven. Eating guacamole at my house? Prepare for a garlic overload. I live in a garlicky bliss. For about 2 weeks last winter all I ate was pasta sauteed in some olive oil, white wine, and garlic. (I had some fruit and carrot sticks too, I didn't want to get scurvy after all!)
Fast forwards to last week. Matthew and I have been discussing the ideas for food at our wedding (at my mother's insistence) and I suggested that a tasting menu, maybe finger foods or tapas style, just tonnes of it, might be fun. At Matthew's work there is a wonderful woman named Yuri who loves cooking as much as I do, and she overheard him mention that I was thinking of doing a tapas style menu. The next day she sent him home with three cookbooks about fingerfood and tapas. One of them contained a recipe for something called "Garlic Soup."
Now the garlic soup in that book only has 3 ingredients in common with mine- olive oil, Garlic, and white wine. Besides that, I was on my own, as the recipe was NOT vegan in the least.
But I created this, and I think it turned out wonderfully. It's garlicky, flavorful in other ways, and chock full of veggies! (And wine!)
Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup white wine
1 cup flavorful veggie stock
5 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
3 spring onions, white parts sliced thinly, and green stalks sliced thicker and set aside.
1 large carrot, peeled into a bunch of ribbons
1 tsp chili sauce (I use Sriracha) (Optional, but it adds a nice zing)
3 cocktail tomatoes, sliced into thin slices(Cocktail tomatoes, if you haven't heard of them, are larger than cherry tomatoes, but smaller than regular tomatoes- feel free to use either cherry tomatoes, OR smallish (bitesized) tomatoes if your store doesn't have them)
Directions:
In a deep wok or saucepan, heat the olive oil on medium-high heat. Add in the white parts of the spring onions and the garlic slices, and sautee for a minute or two, until the edges of the garlic begin to brown and your whole kitchen starts to smell like yummy garlic. :)
Add in the white wine and stock, and bring to a boil. Once it is boiling, turn it down to simmer.
Add in the carrots, and cook on simmering for about 3 minutes.
Add in the tomatoes and green parts of the onions, and the chili sauce (if using.) Cook for about 2 more minutes to cook away the raw onion taste.
Serve, and enjoy the awesome yummy surprise that is Garlic Soup! The whole cooking process takes about 10 minutes in total, and preparing all of the ingredients also takes about 10 minutes, so you could be enjoying a delicious dinner in under half an hour!
Tomato garlic goodness!
October 29, 2011
Caramelly Peanutty Apples
Hi! Big things have been happening!
First off, I got my student loan (woot) so I'm all good school wise.
Secondly! I was approved for an electronics loan to get a new computer, and there was some money leftover after I bought the new computer, SO I got to get a new camera! I got a Canon RebelXS EOS, which means that the quality of photography on this little blog should be improving! Woot!
It is crisp and fall-like in Montreal, a bit cold for my tastes, though Matthew is in heaven, as he loves colder weather. I'm a summer gal myself.
And, as the first food thing I've photographed with the new camera, I give you CARAMEL APPLES!
I am not posting a recipe, Because I just halved the recipe from Dog Hill Kitchen, and made the following minor changes: I used vanilla soy milk, and didn't add vanilla, and I made the sugar half brown and half white. That's it!
I sort of suck at making caramel apples, but I tried anyway. I can't get the hand of coating the apples right, which is why of the 8 I made, about 4 looked good, the other ones were dipped when the caramel was cooling rapidly, and thus looked choppy and such, or the caramel was too hot and slid off into the peanuts I was trying to dip them in! or in the case of one of the apples, the caramel kept bubbling so there's like burst bubbles of caramel... it's super weird.
So I picked the best looking couple, and took pictures of them. I'm sure most other people, if trying to show off their caramel apple skills would do the same thing! (Watch me defend myself!)
As for the sticks, nowhere had popsicle sticks (everyone must be making caramel apples!) So I bought a bag of coffee stirrers, and taped a few together using colorful electrical tape, and used them as my sticks. They're working out alright! It's a pretty neat alternative, even if more time consuming than just finding popsicle sticks, which, should I ever attempt this again (Christmas themed ones will probably be happening) I'll get them WELL in advance!
First off, I got my student loan (woot) so I'm all good school wise.
Secondly! I was approved for an electronics loan to get a new computer, and there was some money leftover after I bought the new computer, SO I got to get a new camera! I got a Canon RebelXS EOS, which means that the quality of photography on this little blog should be improving! Woot!
It is crisp and fall-like in Montreal, a bit cold for my tastes, though Matthew is in heaven, as he loves colder weather. I'm a summer gal myself.
And, as the first food thing I've photographed with the new camera, I give you CARAMEL APPLES!
I sort of suck at making caramel apples, but I tried anyway. I can't get the hand of coating the apples right, which is why of the 8 I made, about 4 looked good, the other ones were dipped when the caramel was cooling rapidly, and thus looked choppy and such, or the caramel was too hot and slid off into the peanuts I was trying to dip them in! or in the case of one of the apples, the caramel kept bubbling so there's like burst bubbles of caramel... it's super weird.
So I picked the best looking couple, and took pictures of them. I'm sure most other people, if trying to show off their caramel apple skills would do the same thing! (Watch me defend myself!)
As for the sticks, nowhere had popsicle sticks (everyone must be making caramel apples!) So I bought a bag of coffee stirrers, and taped a few together using colorful electrical tape, and used them as my sticks. They're working out alright! It's a pretty neat alternative, even if more time consuming than just finding popsicle sticks, which, should I ever attempt this again (Christmas themed ones will probably be happening) I'll get them WELL in advance!
Drool!
October 24, 2011
Sorry for the slowness, eat a salad!
Man, I am the worst blogger on the planet! Fear not, it should pick up soon, I just had a few setbacks this month, mostly dealing with trying to get student loans ironed out so I RECEIVE student loans!
I have successfully gotten the loans approved and am just waiting for it to arrive, so I can continue to go to school. In addition! I have been approved for a computer loan from the government, so I can turn in this sad little clunker (which now makes a rather concerning grinding noise when it is on) for a new streamlined machine. Worry not! Until I get that set up, I will continue to use this computer to update the blog, which should have more content very soon!
In other news, my stress over student loans made me reverse course on my healthiness, I have eaten more chips and french fries than I care to admit in the past two weeks. :( le sad. However, I am trying to detox off of my addiction to salty deep fried foods (my kryptonite) by spending two weeks on a sort of detox with lots of salads, veggies, brown rice, and fruit smoothies for breakfast. No fried foods, no junk foods, no candy, no refined sugars. It's a bit daunting, but I spent almost a year doing it, and didn't regret it the last time, so welcome to a healthier Natalia Eats (for the next two weeks anyway, then I will occasionally sway when I need a bit of fried tofu or something!) I will also include nutritional information from now on!
Also, welcome to my new lunch!
Cranberry Almond Spinach Salad
Ingredients:
3 cups Spinach
1/3 cup craisins (dried cranberries)
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp vinegar (I used Cider, because a gross spider snuck into my balsamic, and it grossed me out so I chucked it, but I usually use balsamic)
1 tbsp dijon mustard
Directions:
Combine the mustard, oil, and vinegar, and stir until combined.
Toss with the rest of the ingredients, and eat!
Nutritional Information:
Calories: 332
Fat: 18g
Carbs: 41g
Protein: 8g
Deliciousness: 8.5/10 noms
I have successfully gotten the loans approved and am just waiting for it to arrive, so I can continue to go to school. In addition! I have been approved for a computer loan from the government, so I can turn in this sad little clunker (which now makes a rather concerning grinding noise when it is on) for a new streamlined machine. Worry not! Until I get that set up, I will continue to use this computer to update the blog, which should have more content very soon!
In other news, my stress over student loans made me reverse course on my healthiness, I have eaten more chips and french fries than I care to admit in the past two weeks. :( le sad. However, I am trying to detox off of my addiction to salty deep fried foods (my kryptonite) by spending two weeks on a sort of detox with lots of salads, veggies, brown rice, and fruit smoothies for breakfast. No fried foods, no junk foods, no candy, no refined sugars. It's a bit daunting, but I spent almost a year doing it, and didn't regret it the last time, so welcome to a healthier Natalia Eats (for the next two weeks anyway, then I will occasionally sway when I need a bit of fried tofu or something!) I will also include nutritional information from now on!
Also, welcome to my new lunch!
Ingredients:
3 cups Spinach
1/3 cup craisins (dried cranberries)
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp vinegar (I used Cider, because a gross spider snuck into my balsamic, and it grossed me out so I chucked it, but I usually use balsamic)
1 tbsp dijon mustard
Directions:
Combine the mustard, oil, and vinegar, and stir until combined.
Toss with the rest of the ingredients, and eat!
Nutritional Information:
Calories: 332
Fat: 18g
Carbs: 41g
Protein: 8g
Deliciousness: 8.5/10 noms
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