I'm so happy to kick off the new year with a recipe I'm rather excited about as it uses an amazing and wildly flavorful ingredient that is a relatively recent discovery for me - tamarind.   I didn't grow up with tamarind, but I have made up for that lost time by how much I love it now.  Are you thinking what even is tamarind anyway? 

Every celebration cake I make feels special, of course.  But this one was exceptionally so, because I made it for my daughter's 6th birthday according to precise specifications ('white cake with chocolate frosting and those crunchy yellow things on top').  It was also extra extra special because we decided to suspend all dietary restrictions (primarily, grain and dairy) to thoroughly enjoy the celebration and all the trimmings that a young girl's birthday celebration should have, including a little magic and a damn good birthday cake.  

In my previous post, I wrote about my family's (temporary) grain-free and dairy-free diet. Since then, we had our follow up visit with the naturopath and received an 'okay' to consume rice, oats and quinoa in small amounts.  I won't pretend to understand naturopathy at all. I don't. As a fairly science-based household (my husband is an intellectual property lawyer with a specialty in biotechnology and medical devices, while I worked nearly a decade at a global pharmaceutical company in a Finance capacity), this venture into alternative medicine is a giant leap of faith.  A leap we had not choice but to take since traditional medicine failed to help my daughter beyond full-body topical steroid cream applications to treat her eczema and absolutely nada to diagnose or treat her mild but persistent, daily stomach aches.  

Being prescribed a grain-free diet by my daughter's naturopath just before the holidays is like getting sick right before vacation ... or scoring free drink tickets only to get bar rail liquor ... or finding a hole in your sock the moment you take off your shoes at someone's house ... or dripping yellow mustard on your brand new sneakers (that stuff's like dye and never completely comes off!) ... or getting an unexpected visit from Auntie Flo when you're totally unprepared OK THAT IS GOING TOO FAR.  

A cycle that repeats.  Healthy, healthy, healthy all week long then BAM the most indulgent of treats to celebrate the weekend! Like these pear frangipane tarts topped with salted caramel sauce & earl grey ice cream I made two weekends ago. Supple pear slices atop a moist and nutty frangipane filling baked inside a crunchy tart. That's an impressive dessert right there.  But why stop there?  For an off-the-Richter impressive dessert, top it with salted caramel-y love and homemade Earl Grey ice cream because what pie or tart didn't get 1000x better with the a-la-mode treatment?  None, that's what.  

If you've been the New York City, then you've seen the plethora of street food carts selling pretzels or nuts or bagels that fill the streets with their amazing aromas.  But I don't waste my money there.  

This cake was a huge hit at a family gathering over the weekend. I'm finicky when it comes to chocolate + fruit combinations in a cake (as in, I don't always love it), but I have to say this cake was reaaally scrumptious. Uber moist chocolate-y sponge cakes are layered with a simple vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream and gently poached sweet cherries, blanketed in dark chocolate ganache and topped with fudge-y brownies (update: I went for fresh cherries and chocolate curls on top on the version in the updated images). It is decadent without being overly sweet or heavy. This is one of the best cakes I've ever made!

Beef Stroganoff is a Russian dish and I'll be the first to admit to know nothing about Russian cuisine or whether my version is authentic.  Probably isn't?  I use flank steak in mine which deviates from the sirloin, tenderloin or chuck I typically see in recipes. After having tried all of those cuts for Stroganoff at some point in the past, I stand by flank steak as the ideal cut to use in this recipe.  When sliced uber thin, the melt-in-your-mouth flank pieces are at harmony with the sauteed soft mushrooms and tender egg noodles.      

I made this the other day because I had hella pumpkin puree to use up.  It's only mid October and I'm still on my annual pumpkin (and pumpkin spice) bender and I wannit in EVERY. SINGLE. THING.  

It doesn't get any more simple or nourishing than this!  This smoothie is filling, nutritious, free of refined sugar yet delightfully kissed with just a bit of sweet.  It is a perfect breakfast, post-workout snack or even a light meal.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, they say, and yet it seems rather over-represented with not the healthiest options involving bread, fatty cheese and salty meats.  When my first born was around 2 years old, I somehow got away with serving her oatmeal cooked in unsweetened almond milk with a sprinkling of raisins (no sugar) every single day for an entire year!  Then she got wise.  

[ October 2018 ] This recipe was updated with improvements! I switched to using roasted chickpeas for an amazing gluten-free alternative for the breading! (see image above) Note the use of store-bought, snacking kind of roasted chickpeas (like Watusee Foods roasted organic chickpeas; not sponsored) which I blitz into a coarse crumb in a blender or food processor. They also have ready-made chickpea crumbs if you can find it (I don’t have access to that in Canada). Home-roasted chickpeas would likely be too moist to achieve the same results.

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This one's a home run at my house!  And I am willing to bet it would be at your's too, if your peeps like crispy little chicken sandwiches on warm soft brioche buns served with a good schmear of creamy tartar-y sauce goodness.  The best part about it is, it's a lightened up (healthier) version that is EASY to make (less than 30 minutes) with NO COMPROMISE in taste! What is this voodoo magic, you ask? Read on friend…  

Okay Fall, you win.  I guess you're coming whether I'm ready or not.

But I win too, because Fall means apples and pumpkins and pumpkin pie spice in everything.  In this case, there is pumpkin pie spice in both the egg mixture for the french toast and the apple compote (like I said, pumpkin pie spice in errrrthing).  This french toast is served with a scoop of luscious apple compote and a good drizzle of warm salted caramel over top because apple + caramel are the original bff's.  How Fall vibe-y is that?  

I guess Fall isn't so bad.

Today is the last day of August.  The hazy warm days of summer are still with us but there is no denying the trend of shorter days, fading summer blooms and a mounting dread of what is to come.

Winter is coming.  Pleck.

The only solace is the few months of Autumnal pleasures we get to enjoy before that, like pumpkin spice everything, over-the-knee suede boots, crisp cool days and good-bye to the summer bedtime debate with the children why they have to go to bed before Mr. Sun does.

JAPANESE COLD SUMMER NOODLES, or HIYASHI CHUKA in Japanese, is a cold ramen dish made with fresh ramen noodles topped with a variety of toppings dressed in an easy sweet and tangy soy based sauce. It is one of the tastiest and most refreshing meals to enjoy during the hot summer months!

Have you ever tried horchata?  It's a Mexican drink made of rice soaked in water and spiced with cinnamon and sweetened with sugar, in it's simplest form. In addition to rice, almonds or seeds are sometimes also used in the beverage. Well anytime there is delicious homemade almond milk involved, I'm all in!  Add to that a shot of strong espresso, and you've got yourself a horchata iced latte - otherwise known as the best caffeinated summer sipper ever.

This is a healthy, dairy-free take on the nostalgic flavor combination of sweetly acidic orange juice and creamy vanilla.  These may seem like an odd marriage of flavors for those who didn't grow up getting creamsicle popsicles from the corner store but they play so well with each other - like pb&j or chocolate & strawberries!  I really like it, can you tell? 

So when vogue.com asked me to contribute my recipe for this healthy creamsicle smoothie for a feature on their site, I gleefully agreed! You can read my wee feature here. No big deal ;) 

This is a gold star muffin recipe! I adore this recipe because it begins with walnuts and rolled oats ground into a coarse flour which gives the muffins substance, keeping you full longer because of the healthy oils in the walnuts and the heartiness of the oats. Buckwheat flour is used which happens to make this gluten-free. Muffins have a bad rap as the evil breakfast food loaded with hidden fat and sugar, but it doesn't have to!  I hope you like this one.