project 365 realizations

Oy Vey! I just can't keep up with it.

Honest to god. It's just too much. You'd think that one little picture wouldn't be so hard, but it is in terms of coming up with new things, keeping it fresh, and more importantly, posting on regular enough basis in order to keep it manageable.

So I'm officially letting go of the project!

In other news... life has been busy.

Went to Tremblant last weekend and went tubbing, which was fun!
Made homemade vanilla (with organic vanilla beans). It's only going to take a minimum of 3 months. Meanwhile, my impatient little self is already zonesing to try it! It's going to be a LONG 3 months.


I also created a new wedding scrapbook page, cause we all know that I've been avoiding it for way too long!

Not quite sure why the page is blurry but you get the general idea of what it looks like, so I'm going to leave it for now.

I've been trying to figure out this whole scrapbooking thing. What's my style, what I like, etc, etc. I'm still pretty new at it all so I feel a little overwhelmed still by all the possibilities and figuring out what works for me personally. Some pages end up being better than others. I have a hard time balancing the items that go on a page. But I'm working on it!

rebar’s vegan fudge brownies… non vegan version… yum!

As mentioned before, I spent my Monday cooking and baking and I just had to share one of the goodies I created: a non vegan version of the Rebar fudge brownie (I love that restaurant… seriously if you’re ever in Victoria you’ve got to go!) Not only does the Rebar cookbook makes yummy brownies, the restaurant serves delicious smoothies and other goodies!

• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup coffee
• 3/4 cup milk (soy if vegan)
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (carob if vegan)

Preheat oven to 325, grease 9x9 pan

Combine dry ingredients

Combine wet ingredients

Mix the 2 together.

Bake 25 minutes or until fork/toothpick comes out clean (for me it ended up being 40 mins, not 25)

These were really quite delicious, I have to say! I added a cream cheese icing on the top and they were sinfully delicious!

de retour from the long weekend

This long weekend was busy. Between birthdays, stagettes, training, crane folding, and cooking/baking… the weekend flew by. One of the best things about this weekend though?

All the yummy foods!

The weekend started off right, with yummy Indian food. On Friday we went to one of my favourite local Indian restaurants, Bombay Mahal, for a birthday dinner. I’ve never dragged my partner there, because ironically, he’s not much on the Indian/spicy foods, but I go there often enough with girlfriends. It was nice to share a local gem with so many friends.

And then we ended the weekend with a bang by spending Monday cooking up a storm. Cassoulet, lasagna, vegan brownies, banana bread, and pizza. I’ve never made homemade pizza before (not that I made this one either… as Paul would be quick to point out),  but there was something satisfying about knowing that this pizza (see photo) was made from scratch. He made the dough, my tomato sauce, tomatoes, onions, and peppers from our garden…  It was simple, but yummy, and reminded me of the fact that I really want to strive to move away from store bought processed foods (hence the fact that we made so much food to freeze yesterday).

Can’t wait to dig into some lasagne for lunch today!

adventures in canning

I don't know how all the Italian mamas do it. I decided to can my own tomato sauce this year, and 45lbs of tomatoes and I got next to nothing in the way of sauce. Seriously! It's not that it's hard to make tomato sauce. But it's really time consuming. All afternoon and evening on Sunday was spent boiling, straining, and canning tomatoes. And while I have a fair amount of jars... it's by no means enough for the year.

The question is, do I do it again next weekend? Or do I move on to a new vegetable/canning experiment?

(I made one jar of canned red peppers from the peppers in our garden... that's all there was enough for)!

yum, chocolate cake

Last weekend was a very domestic weekend for yours truly. No crafts, just baking and canning.

I made this chocolate cake, with the help of my sometimes ok half (kidding, I love you Paul), from a recipe I think I found on smitten kitchen but now I can't find the link...

1/2 cup soft butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk (I substituted regular milk with a tsp of lemon juice)
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Bake in bread pan for 60-70 minutes, sprinkle icing sugar over and serve with raspberries or strawberries.

Being typical Marya, I decided that baking one thing at a time wasn't good enough, so I threw in canning tomato sauce, frying onions for this curry potato salad (made with dairy) while supervising Paul as he mixed the dry and wet ingredients. Yes, at one point I was literally beating the cake while stirring frying onions.

Of course, what I failed to mention to Paul as he was mixing items for me was the that the butter, sugar and eggs go together first... so instead we added it all at once and hoped for the best (oops). Overall it was pretty good. Though a bit dry (from error or recipe remains undetermined...) but for safety's sake, I recommend making the cake with a sauce of some sort (or serving with ice cream).

simple summer salad

It’s been hot here. REALLY hot. Ok, maybe if you live in Florida or somewhere like there, you wouldn’t find our weather last week so hot but for us, it’s been crazy hot.

And for me, the first thing that goes with the heat is my appetite. Each night my brother or husband would ask, what do you want for dinner tonight, and my first thought was always, do popsicles count as a meal?

So when I finally rallied up to actually cook something, it had to be something light.

Tomato and Green bean parmesan salad

penne pasta (enough for 4 servings)

green beans (about 2 cups worth), cut in half

2 TBSPS of butter

2 tomatoes, cut into cubes

1/4 red onion, sliced

1/4 cup parmesan (or to taste)

pepper to taste

Cook pasta. Steam beans. Add butter to hot pasta. Stir in tomatoes, onions, and beans. Add parmesan and pepper. Voila. Serve hot or cool, as desired. Easy peasy and quick!

the holidays

  

This Christmas we used our fondue pot for the first time ever… apples and cheese so yummy! Built gingerbread houses (some of us were more serious about it than others). Spent time with both sides of the family, who were equally harassed with unwanted photo ops! And spent some time with old friends.

best of 2009: food and home

This weekend I took a break from blogging (though technically I did that last weekend too... ahh, the joy of scheduled blog posts), so now I'm catching up on the best of 2009 posts. For Dec 13th the prompt was best change to your home in 2009. We've changed quite a bit in our condo over the past year in an effort to make the space feel roomier and more  homey. Each change has gradually morphed into the space that we have now, which is the best of them all so far. See photos above and below. The living room actually feels like a home now, which is a major improvement. There was something about what we had before that was blah and utilitarian, that felt cramped and sterile. The addition of the bookshelf above has really opened up the space because it's drawn the visual line up and made the space feel less cluttered and small because of it.

Our mini shrine to us and our wedded bliss in the hallway has replaced the hodge podge collection of photos we once had up. And the office is become cleaner (still needs a bit of work) but when the space is clean it's actually quite user friendly and spacious! All in all this was the best change (done all at the same time) because it created more space and made the condo feel more homey.

Now on to food:

My best food discovery of the year was phylo, as used in my lentil veggie phylo rolls, recipe here. I'd never cooked with phylo but decided to experiment by combining 2 recipes. The results, despite being surprisingly low on the use of spices, were incredibly savoury and yummy. I will definitely be making these goodies again! Yummmm.... phylo.

vegetarian cuisine, Julie/Julia, and learning to master the art great vegetarian food

I would like to say to you all now that while I have always found vegetarians a bit silly, since I have been eating like one my contempt for them is boundless. Jesus, what a boring, sad life it is. Wouldn’t be so bad, if you’d just throw in some fucking bacon. Or a steak.

from the Julie/Julia blog.

Recently I watched the Julie/Julia movie. I enjoyed it overall for what it was. An entertaining, light movie. The fact that this woman decided to cook so much fancy schmancy food simply overwhelms me, truth be told. I mean, I can't imagine what eating all that butter, cream and rich food must have done to her waistline.

So anyways, it led to me checking out her blog. And what did I find? Yes, the quote above. As a vegetarian of 16 years, I am required to speak up in defense of vegetarian cuisine. But more importantly, I just want to say, for fuck's sake people, use your bloody imagination when you're cooking vegetarian food. If an entire nation (India) can base their cuising on a primarily vegetarian diet, then maybe it's not vegetarianism but your poor skill at cooking, imagining, or creating a gourmet vegetarian meal.

Stop expecting your meat free rendition of your staple fare to be a lesser substitute for meat based lifestyle. Stop making the same food, just omiting the meat, and expecting it to be the same as your steak and potatoes fare. So you like meat, I get it. But honestly, if you can't create a delicious, savory, mouth watering vegetarian meal it's because you haven't stepped out of the box enough to imagine a meal that is actually based on a vegetarian lifestyle, not a lesser, non-meat substitution.

Learn to use your spices. Try spices beyond thyme, basil and oregano. Use your fucking imagination! When Top Chef hosted an episode with vegetarian Natalie Portman, it was abysmal. The aspiring cooks were completely clueless when it came to making a meat-free meal. And this is the problem people have when they whine that vegetarian food is awful. It's not awful, your vegetarian cooking is. So enough already. Do me a favour and shut the hell up! Explore your options, try different things, actually go out and buy one of the hundreds of great vegetarian cookbooks out there (that teach you to cook from a vegetarian perspective, not a meat substition based perspective). If you're trying to turn tofu into steak, of course you're going to be disappointed. But marinate that tofu right, with some lentils, spices and yummy veggies, and now we're talking baby! (see veggie phylo rolls... they were seriously delish! check out a few of my veggie experiments, or borrow a good cookbook)

Or, if you're not interested in vegetarian cuisine, just bloody well admit it and stop your whining already. As a vegetarian I'm fricken sick and tired of this crap! Seriously, I'm not wasting away here for lack of food options. My meat loving husband, who lives a predominantly vegetarian lifestyle at home, isn't either.

veggie phylo rolls

One month wedding anniversary today!

Anyways...

Tried out a new recipe Monday night. Actually I tried out a combination of 2 recipes and used phylo dough for the first time. Recipes combo from Australian Women's Weekly (vegetarian) and Vegetarian Times magazine.

Spinach, basil, cheese stuffed phylo rolls (Paul approved)

Filing (all measurements approximative):

4 mushrooms

3 stalks of green onions (shallotts)

1/2 red and 1/4 green peppers

1/4 tofu

1/4 cup red lentils

approx 1 tbsp basil

1 clove garlic

4 leaves of spinach

sauteed together with butter. started with mushrooms and butter and then added the rest once the mushrooms were done.

1/4 cup cottage cheese

1 cup cheddar cheese

put in food processor and pureed

spooned into phylo squares and rolled.

top buttered and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

baked for 20 mins @ 350

They were actually very savory considering that the only spice added was basil. I was concerned that the filling would be heavy but I was actually very pleased with my experiment. I will be making these goodies again.

vegetarian minestrone soup

I made soup for the first time in ages last night and it was yummy. I'm not much of a soup maker or eater to be honest. It's just one of those foods that I never really think about making, or eating for that matter. But the boy put me in charge of dinner last night and I was suddenly struck by a craving for minestrone soup.

While I was making it, Paul watching throw things into it hap-hazardly, asked: "Is there a recipe for this soup of yours or are you just making it up as you go along."

To which the answer was of course: "Just winging it!" I'm a big fan of just tossing things in as I go. My recipes rarely ever taste the exact same... and I like to call them Marya's shit mix. (I'm nothing if not classy!)

He walked away quietly, grabbing another slice of baguette, hoping for the best. I think he was thrilled when he finally sat down to eat said soup and proclaimed that he really liked it. Phew, he didn't go to bed hungry last night.

Without further ado: Marya's ShitMix Minestrone  (All measurements are approximative)

1 small onion
2 celery stalks
1 tbsp of garlic powder (our fresh garlic was icky)
4 tbsp of italian seasoning
2 tomatoes
1 red pepper
1/4 yellow pepper
1 very large carrot
1 handful of green beans (cut into 3s)
1 can of 6 bean mix (drained and rinsed in order to prevent gas)
2 cubes of vegan herb soup bouillon cubes
2 cups of tomato sauce (leftover marinara sauce from earlier this week but use what you've got!)
pepper to taste (about 1-2 tbsp)
a handful of noodles (added in the last 15 minutes)

First I sauteed the veggies, then added everything and let it cook for an hour on low. Add a couple of slices of baguette on the side and enjoy!

vegetarian cooking adventures

From 2009-07-28 summer 2009

Lately I've had food on the brain. Healthy, well prepared, yummy vegetarian food. What prompted these thoughts? I think they began with a trailer for the upcoming Julie/Julia movie based on the blog, which prompted me to think about a parallel vegetarian cookbook adventure. Could I find the energy and self-discipline to work my way through a vegetarian cookbook classic, say Moosewood? Or the ever yummy Rebar cookbook?

These thoughts were then furthered by 2 recent discussions with girl friends: one about being lazy cooks because we never know what foods to cook or combine, and the other about the lack of fine vegetarian fare in high end restaurants. The paucity of yummy choices in fancy schmancy restaurants only furthers my desire to create a broader vegetarian cooking repetoire to show that there are so many yummy options out there, but my struggles to figure out what to pair with what prevents me from knowing quite how to go about doing so. Hence the picture above.

Last night's meal consisted of:

lemon tofu "chicken" slices

rice pilaf (with whatever I found in my cupboard: veg bouillon, dried carrot/onion/parsley mix, green pepper, scallions, salt, pepper)

brocoli with butter, salt and pepper

and a new salad adapted from the latest VegNews:

1 cup chick peas, 2 tomatoes, 1 pepper (I used orange, the recipe called for red), 2 scallions, 1/2 tsp parsley, 2 small home grown cucumbers and for the dressing 3 tbsps of lemon juice, 1/4 cup olive oil, salt to taste. The salad was simple, filling and quite good. I added more salad ingredients vs chick peas than the recipe called for (it wanted 3 cups of chick peas), and squeezed in more lemon juice and added a bit more salt, but it was a nice combo of light flavours and richness because of the chick peas. The original recipe also called for mint, but since Paul doesn't like mint, I omitted it. Overall the salad was a bit like tabouleh, but with chick peas instead of couscous.

Anyways, Paul cooks tonight and I'm already thinking up ideas for Tuesday. Let's see what yummy creations I can add to my vegetarian cooking repetoire.

Ode to being domestic

Some days I'm surprisingly domestic. See photo evidence. In fact, sometimes I wonder whether or not I wouldn't be happier being a stay-at-home wife. Of course that would mean doing yoga, crafts, travelling AND taking care of the house. At heart I think I really am a homebody and I'd actually thrive (provided we had enough money), if I was able to quit my day job. I'd make crafts, try to sell them, have an immaculate home (cause I actually clean when I'm alone), and in general be more zen. It's somewhat startling but true... this workaholic would love to never "work" again! Take that for new feminism... me, revalorizing the domestic.

fruit tarts!

I want to try my hand at making custard fruit tarts. I'm debating between:

Recipe 1
or
Recipe 2?

Both look pretty yummy!

Recent adventures in veggie cuisine

I've been trying new veggie recipes lately: here's a photo of one
of my more tasty concoctions.

The boy approved, which means that it was pretty good. If you check out the cover of last month's magazine (recipe), you can compare how mine looks to what's on the cover. Not bad if I say so myself.

Things that I might change....


I'm not such a big fan of the sweet Asian pasta/stir fry so I think next time I try the recipe I'll spice it up more (less hoisin, more soy and chili/garlic sauce). The boy will be so happy to learn this....

Also, I made fortune cookies. Guess what, they're surprisingly easy to make and have like NO fat in them. Yeah, colour me surprised. Who knew?