Turkey Tips

I love a turkey dinner. It’s complicated, labour-intensive, and delicious. As a person whose love language is food, it’s the ultimate gesture of affection. Because my mother-in-law doesn’t love cooking as much as I do, I’ve wrested control of the Thanksgiving and Christmas turkey-making. I’ve probably made a turkey at least once a year for…

Sacha Chicken

For the past few months, I’ve been roasting chicken thighs a couple times a week with the standard salt, rosemary, sage, and thyme. My brain and heart just haven’t into concocting recipes. But today I decided to create something new – and also go through the many jars of sauces in my fridge. Enter sacha…

Egg Tofu with Udon in Soy-Peanut Sauce

There are days that I really don’t feel like cooking. That’s why I fill my pantry with items that can easily be turned into a balanced meal with very little effort. Something I always keep around are udon noodles. You can find them in Asian grocery stores in the noodle aisle (for those who haven’t…

Macaroni soup with leftovers

This is a easy Hong Kong style dish that my mom use to make for lunch on weekends or if I was at home sick. The ingredients are simple: broth, elbow macaroni, some meat (leftovers from dinner or Spam), some veggies (whatever’s around). Sometimes she would fry an egg and put that on top. Eating…

Pressure Cooker Pork Carnitas

I really am going crazy with this pressure cooker. It makes my favourite, usually very time consuming, recipes into 1 hour meals. I was in the mood for some carnitas and didn’t want to pay for any, so here goes my version. I purchased pork shoulder because it has great flavour, and pork hock (not…

Pressure Cooker Spicy Oxtail and Chickpea Curry

I just bought a pressure cooker and I LOVE IT. I’ve gone bonkers, trying out all sorts of recipes and even amending my own to suit it. Basically any recipe I have that requires simmering something for hours can go into the pressure cooker and simmer for 30 minutes. So. Oxtail curry. This usually takes…

Spinach and Potato Curry Roti

Potato in curry is one of my favourite things in the world. So the first time I had spinach and potato curry roti, my mind was absolutely blown. Anyway, this is a great spicy lunch for a super cold day. Seriously, Toronto?   I added in peas for some protein, to round out the meal….

Vegan Enchiladas

I know, it looks gross, but it tastes great. Okay, this is nowhere near authentic. I tried to make authentic enchilada sauce and it was a horrific failure. So here’s my version. Note, the chipotle pepper in adobo sauce is what gives this sauce the right flavour. It will be spicy. I don’t know how…

Vegan Shepherd’s Pie

Fluffy potatoes, stewy stuff, what’s not to love? Note, I use real butter in this recipe, but it’s easy to substitute with vegan margarine. Ingredients 1/4 cup carrot, diced 1/4 cup celery, diced 1/2 onion, diced 3 cloves garlic, minced about 10 mushrooms, chopped small (I used white button mushrooms) 1 can brown lentils, drained…

Vietnamese Vermicelli with Chicken and Green Papaya Salad

It’s hot. It’s been about 40ºC with the humidex for over a week and not surprisingly, a heavy, hearty meal isn’t what I’m looking for nowadays. I still love love love noodles, though, so here is a recipe for something I get pretty often in Vietnamese restaurants. Vietnamese Chicken and Vermicelli 2 Chicken thighs 1/2…