To say the recent arrival of Teri Turner’s wonderful new cookbook No Crumbs Left, Recipes for Everyday Food Made Marvelous was highly anticipated by her legion of loyal fans (she calls her “crumbles”) would be a massive understatement. I have been following Teri’s instagram for years. She approaches cooking with the ease and confidence that inspires so many of us. “Don’t be afraid to fail; it’s just food” is what Teri frequently says. Don’t those words alone empower you to tackle almost anything in your kitchen?
Read moreSpaghetti with Clams and Shishito Peppers, with pancetta-hazelnut topping { gluten-free, dairy-free }
This Spaghetti with Clams and Shishito Peppers with a Pancetta-Hazelnut Topping is one of those dishes you can make rather quickly on any given night for your family but also elevated enough for your most important dinner guests. And everyone will assume you slaved over it all afternoon too 😉
Read moreSpringtime White Lasagna { gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian }
Are you Team White Sauce or Team Red Sauce? Honestly, I have been Team Red all the way, all my life. BUT, this dreamy creamy Springtime White Lasagna almost made me second guess my lifelong allegiance. Plus, I tricked my whole family into eating THREE whole different kinds of green vegetables in ONE meal because of this luscious, roasted garlic cream sauce. I said roasted garlic cream sauce. I just wanted to make sure you read that. 😉 Can you even imagine??! It’s definitely kinda magical.
Read moreGluten-Free Carrot Cake
You may have noticed my love affair with cake. I’m not too selective when it comes to flavour. I have no prejudices and have enough love (and sweet tooth) in me to love them all! Unless they are excessively sweet. If you’ve baked any of my cake or loaf recipes, you may have noticed that my palate prefers just-sweet-enough desserts that don’t ache my teeth or leaves me feeling ill after eating it. Carrot cakes, in particular, seem to be guilty of being cloyingly sweet. Is it the sweetness of the carrots? The cream cheese frosting? Perhaps both. In any case, if you love carrot cakes, you will love this perfectly sweet, perfectly moist, slightly better-for-you Gluten Free Carrot Cake with an amazing tangy, “no-cream-cheese” frosting that might blow your mind like it did mine.
Read moreCreamy Avocado Pesto Pasta with King Crab (or Shrimp) { gluten-free, dairy-free }
This amazing Creamy Avocado Pesto Pasta with King Crab (or Shrimp) is a luxurious, creamy pasta dish fit for royalty but is also pretty perfect for a quick meal because it involves minimal cooking and is ready in less than 30 minutes. There is a reason why king crab meat is so beloved by seafood lovers all over the world. Nothing compares to their succulence and sweetness. If you haven’t yet tried, you should find a good excuse to splurge on it to taste for yourself. But for an everyday, less bougie yet still delicious version, shrimp is the way to go in this pasta. The recipe for either option is nearly identical (and I walk you through both in the recipe).
Read moreTuna and Kimchi Onigirazu aka Japanese Rice Sandwich { gluten-free, dairy-free }
Here’s an easy, healthy, minimal-cook meal idea for weeknight dinner, not-a-sad-desk-lunch or kid school lunch. This recipe for TUNA AND KIMCHI ONIGIRAZU is a must try…they are simple to make and so, sooo delicious.
Read moreTahini Cake with Berries { gluten-free }
I’ve baked enough gluten-free cakes to confidently say that despite its bad rap, gluten-free cakes need not to be dry or dense or sandy in texture. They can be moist, light and often times in my opinion, more flavourful than wheat flour cakes depending on the ingredients used. In this case, I use a mix of almond flour (see - flavour boost right there) and gluten-free flour blend. Egg yolks provide richness and egg whites (whipped) provide airiness to lighten the denser nature of gluten-free flours.
Read moreThai Coconut Soup, The Living Kitchen Cookbook { gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo, Whole30, vegan, vegetarian }
All it took was a delicious cookie. The kind that is hearty and chunky with all my favourite things like seeds and cacao nibs and cranberries and goji berries and tahini (aka my favourite butter of all time until infinity). The kind that promises to be hearty, healthy AND delicious, and actually delivers on that promise. It’s no wonder that I fell in love with it and have made the recipe more than half a dozen times. And in falling in love with the cookie, I discovered and also fell a little bit in love (not in a creepy stalker way … in a respectful admiration type of way) with its creators, Sarah Grossman and Tamara Green, the duo behind Living Kitchen Wellness blog and now their debut cookbook, The Living Kitchen Cookbook, Healing Recipes to Support Your During Cancer Treatment and Recovery.
Read moreSpanish Tapas Party! { gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo + Whole30 options }
Last week I threw a little tapas dinner party and it was sooo much fun. Not to mention, utterly delicious! I made some of the greatest hits and you know what, they are all surprisingly easy to prepare, as you'll see in the recipes below. Are you ready for this epic, six-recipe blog post featuring some of the most popular and best loved tapas? I promise the deliciousness you're about to encounter will make your tastebuds extremely happy!
Read moreGinger Apricot Chicken { gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo, Whole30 }
Do you like the sound of juicy chicken with crispy skin, slathered in a zippy sauce? If so, I have this fantastic 6-ingredient, 30 minutes recipe for you. This easy and flavor-packed GINGER APRICOT CHICKEN recipe came about when I craved a tasty dish to appease my bored taste buds shortly after starting my first Whole30 so this recipe provides options for regular preparation or soy-free / gluten-free versions. This recipe has since become one of our family weeknight favourites!
Read moreThai Red Curry Noodle Soup with Shrimp Balls { gluten free, dairy free }
Slurp-worthy rice noodles in a creamy, flavourful broth, this easy THAI RED CURRY NOODLE SOUP WITH SHRIMP BALLS is the kind of tasty and nutritious meal to put into your recipe rotation immediately.
Read moreCauliflower Gnocchi with Morel Mushrooms { gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan }
Any morel lovers out there?! I am so pleased to partner with Green Peace Canada on this blog post to raise awareness about the Boreal forest by way of this wildly delicious Cauliflower Gnocchi with Morel Mushrooms recipe! Easy to make two-ingredient cauliflower gnocchi are tossed simply with sauteed morels, shallots and garlic, and finished with chives and a wee drizzle of nice balsamic vinegar to brighten everything up. This is an elevated dish fit for royalty! Or at least your most favorite dinner guests. The ones who bring very nice wine! ;)
Read morePeppermint Chocolate Mousse with Peppermint Meringue Kisses { dairy-free, vegan, egg-free, refined sugar-free }
SPOILER ALERT: This dairy-free and vegan chocolate mousse involves NO tofu, NO avocado, NO aquafaba and NO praying that the coconut cream will whip up properly. It is luxuriously rich with that dreamy fluffiness of traditional mousse. It is SUBLIME.
When I set out to make a dairy-free and vegan chocolate mousse, I deep-dived Google and Pinterest and came across a multitude of recipes using one of the four aforementioned ingredients: avocado, silken tofu, aquafaba (brine from canned chickpeas) and whipped up coconut cream. But I really, really wanted to create a version that steered clear of all of them. I wanted a recipe that uses more conventional dessert ingredients AND a fool-proof method, while still achieving a mousse that delivers the same intense chocolate flavor with a billowy texture that slightly melts on the tongue. No compromise.
Read moreBlueberry Swirl Meringue Cookies from Oh Sweet Day! Cookbook { gluten-free, Grain-Free, dairy-free }
When talented baker, mama, and fellow Canadian blogger Fanny sent me a copy of her new debut cookbook Oh Sweet Day! A Celebration Cookbook of Edible Gifts, Party Treats and Festive Desserts to review, I could not have been more delighted! Fanny and I have been following each other on Instagram for a few years. Her IG posts torture me (in the best way hehe) with elegantly executed desserts that inevitably awaken the dessert monster inside me! So much so, I have already made two of Fanny’s recipes, not including this delectable meringue treat (which we will get to in a beat, I promise). One such recipe was her Pecan Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies which was published in the 2017 Holiday issue of the Bake From Scratch Cookie Magazine, an issue full of featured recipes from a handful of the most elite baking bloggers. I made the Pecan Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies to include in my annual holiday cookie boxes for giving away, and hers turned out to be my personal favorite (by far) of the season. I was tempted to keep them all for myself.
Read moreSpiced Apple Almond Cake { gluten-free }
This cake is studded throughout with bits of soft apples and flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and allspice - aka all the distinctive notes of Fall. Moreover, it has such a wonderfully light and tender crumb! As someone who bakes gluten-free regularly, texture is a major measure of success. And everyone who had a piece of this cake said it didn’t taste like a gluten-free cake at all. Woot! It always feels like a bit of wizardry to get results as good as, or even better, than conventional cakes made with all-purpose flour. Even for people who are not gluten-sensitive, this cake is a win-win because it is lower in carbs and higher in nutrition (especially protein) than cakes made with all-purpose flour. I think everyone will enjoy it. Let me know if you agree!
Read moreLobster and Truffle Oil Mac + Cheese with Crunchy Chickpea Crumbs { gluten-free, dairy-free }
Autumn seems to be everybody’s favorite season, doesn’t it? We have long Winters here and some of the allure of Autumn, for me anyways, is how fleeting it is before it gives way to the bitter cold. Ugh, I hate the cold. Apart from that, there is something almost ineffable about the beauty of Autumn. The cool, crisp air. The scent of earthiness and wood-burning fires. Leaves in the most splendid array of rich, vibrant colors. ASMR-inducing crunch-crunch-crunch of fallen, dry leaves underfoot. And as for taste, we crave the return of comfort foods after a summer of lighter fare. Foods that feel like a cozy hug for a hungry tummy, like this Lobster and Truffle Oil Mac + Cheese with Crunchy Chickpea Crumbs.
Read morePeach + Passionfruit Pavlova { gluten-free }
A pavlova always makes a grand impression. This PEACH + PASSIONFRUIT PAVLOVA is probably my all time favourite version of the dessert! The sublime combination of juicy peaches and tart-sweet passionfruit, billowy whipped cream and chewy-crisp meringue, is certain to make you swoon.
Read morePoached Shrimp + Tomato Salad
It's mid August which means Toronto is bursting with summer produce. Our local farmer's market is, to me, almost like a candy store to a child. Tables are piled high with an abundance of fresh and colorful fruits and vegetables hitting their peak. I am in heaven! In particular, tomatoes are having their long-awaited moment in the sun, literally and figuratively. :)
Read morePlum Torte { grain-free, gluten-free, refined sugar free / Paleo Option }
Whenever stone fruit season rolls around, Marian Burro's infamous plum torte seems to pop up everywhere on my Instagram feed. You may have missed it ... if you live under a rock ;) She wrote this iconic recipe for the New York Times in the 80s and they claim it is one of their most requested recipes. I never did get around to making her original recipe but this grain-free adaptation of her plum torte is so dang good I don't think I ever actually will!?
Read moreCauliflower Steak Salad with Sambal Matah
Remember when I said cauliflower has superpowers? I still stand by that. Especially after this pretty incredible Cauliflower Steak Salad I made. I've made this dish three times in the past 2 weeks and I have had no regrets about it. Not a one. Actually I do have one regret which is that I'm only discovering Sambal Matah now and not sooner. Such a crying shame!
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