We Haight Cookbooks

Karina Wraps up her night off!

2011-10-03T22:05:00.000-07:00

Wow, how difficult it can be to find the time to cook a creative and thoughtful meal when you're busy! (Let alone document it and post it on your very neglected food blog...one that attempts to convince people how easy it is!).

I had a precious night off last week and was thrilled when my dear and equally busy friend, Molly, was able to come over for some dinner and much-needed catching up.

I have recently moved to the mission (but yes, we are still keeping our clever name referring to my living in the haight..) and am excited to have one of my favorite local, organic co-ops, Rainbow Grocery, in easy access to my new location.

Rainbow is extremely dangerous for me, because I just can't stop filling my basket with all of its amazing, colorful organic produce and I always spend too much. It was a really hot night in San Francisco (they do exist from time to time) so I decided to keep it fresh and light and go all out!

For my prep, I chopped up garlic, ginger, carrots, fresh mint, a spicy green pepper, and these amazing little things I had never heard of:

Kiwi Berries!! Its exactly what you would imagine- tasting like a mini kiwi...berry... tart and yummy and so freakin' cute!

I made a salad of the chopped carrots, cucumbers, yellow bell pepper, kale, ginger, a touch of garlic, mint, a tiny portion of the spicy pepper, and several sliced kiwi berries. I squeezed a fresh lemon and lime in it, a few drizzles of olive oil, added sea salt, cinnamon, cayenne, and some agave. I played with all of these things until it had the perfect acidic, sweet, spicy balance. I stuck it in the fridge so that the kale would have a chance to marinate and soften up in the juices.

I next took two super ripe, organic peaches and an avocado, and threw them in the food processor with fresh mint, garlic, ginger, lime, the rest of the spicy pepper, salt, agave and a spoon full of almond butter. I toyed with this sauce for a long time, adding more sweet, then savory (curry, cayenne) and then more citrus until I was getting full from tasting so much of it!

It turned out so smooth, refreshing and tasty, but left you with raging garlic breath!!

One of my favorite things to do is to use purple cabbage leafs en lieu of a tortilla or bread. I cut slivers in the cabbage at the bottom of each leaf, and carefully pealed them off intact and washed them...

In a pan I sauteed a half on onion, these lovely little Asian mushrooms (I forgot to right down the name!) and...

These meatless shitake mushroom seitan strips I found at Rainbow. I try not to endulge too often, but I have such a weakness for fake meats! When they are good that is- and these are awesome and really affordable if you happen to find them!

Once I spiced to my liking- salt, pepper, cayenne, cumin, paprika...I added a bunch of fresh spinach and let it slightly wilt into the saute.

Once I had lastly prepared some thin brown rice noodles, I set up the our very exciting 'build your own cabbage wrap station' in between our empty plates!

The lovely Miss Molly chooses her own wrap adventure with a glass of Rose!

So delicious and fresh I could eat it for days. Wait... I absolutely did!

Karina Cooks for Campout- 8+ meals in 3 days for 20-50 people each...

2011-07-25T15:44:00.000-07:00

My oldest sister Alia is a DJ and party-thrower based out of Santa Cruz. She is a part of cooperative organization called Raindance, that throws epic music and dance parties all throughout California and beyond. One of their biggest events every summer is a weekend-long party out in the woods called the Raindance Campout, and this year she brought me along to cook for the set-up crew and staff for the 3 days before the party began!

She told me I would be making breakfast, lunch and dinner each day, and that there was an estimated 20-50 people to feed (the number increasing each meal as all the workers, crew and staff started to arrive.) I decided to plan relatively easy meals that would feed a bunch of people, and together we came up with the massive shopping lists.

Once she bought Costco out and picked me up in San Francisco, we headed up to the Mendocino area (Saratoga Springs), where we were the first to arrive on base at an impressive 3:30 am.

We had several hours before other people started to arrive, so once I organized the massive amount of groceries in our homey cabin kitchen, I began to prep in any way I could. My first task was to make an epic amount of hummus (since my motto is you can eat hummus with any meal of the day!). I added an industrial sized can of garbanzo beans, almost a whole can of tahini, three lemons, a whole lot of garlic, salt and water to the food processor I thankfully brought with me and tampered with the mixture until I got the perfect flavor and consistency. Throughout the week I would keep a small bowl of hummus out with some chips on the table and refill it periodically so the whole tub wouldn't disappear in one go!

I knew that night I was planning on Taco night, so I decided to get ahead and make a large vat of mango- avocado salsa. I diced up three mangoes, a handful of baby carrots, fresh thyme, garlic and lots of ginger.

I halved maybe 7 or 8 ripe avocados and added them to my salsa with the juice of a whole lemon and lime squeezed in, and added sea salt, cumin, black pepper, cayenne and drizzle of agave.

When the evening started to set in and more and more crew started to arrive with bellies grumbling, I began assembling the taco train. I sauteed two or three onions, several orange and yellow peppers, crimini mushrooms and chopped garlic in olive oil and spiced the lot with the usual salt, pepper, cayenne, cumin and paprika.

Even though I am a vegetarian, I took on the ground beef next. I began by sauteing a chopped onion and a few cloves of garlic in some olive oil in the bottom of a large pot. Once the onions were translucent, I threw in all of the ground beef my sister had purchased and began breaking it up with a metal spatula as it cooked. I eventually spiced with salt, chili flakes, cayenne, cumin and a few splashes of brags here and there. When I saw that it was cooked enough, I asked other people to taste it for me and they were surprisingly impressed at the flavor.

I heated each corn tortilla on the flame of the burner (flipping each side until it was warm and starting to blacken) and kept them warm in the oven. I had opened a big industrial can of black beans and added spices and garlic to it as it warmed up on the back burner.

I finally set out the avocado-mango salsa, some hummus, some grated cheese, cilantro and the tortillas and allowed people to help themselves down the taco train!

The next morning I got up early and began preparing a hefty breakfast to sustain the busy worker bees. I took the same route in sauteing veggies (we had bought everything in bulk so I used the same ingredients over and over) to go in a big egg scramble. Once the veggies were cooked and spiced to my liking, I drained the extra liquid out of the pan and added probably 25-30 eggs I had cracked into a bowl and very very lightly pre-scrambled. I made sure to stay on scrambling the eggs in the pan every few minutes until eventually I had a perfectly cooked, perfectly moist scramble filled with delicious veggies. I added a touch more salt, cumin and cayenne to it.

My sister had bought a big bag of pre-prepared pancake mix, so I spiced it up by adding fresh ginger, banana, cinnamon and frozen organic blueberries.

We also made several batches of bacon for the meat eaters, which I tackled by spreading the strips of bacon out on cookie sheets and baking them on high heat in the oven. This is a great way to cook bacon in large quantities!

I also re-heated the black beans from the night before, and also set out the mango-avocado salsa and more hummus.

As soon as I was fed myself and cleaned up after the big breakfast that about 25-30 people showed up for, I began prepping for lunch. I decided to re-use my left overs and made two big fresh taco salads. (One veggie, one with some of the left-over taco meat.)

I washed several heads of romaine lettuce and mixed it with the mixed greens Alia had purchased, and added fresh diced red, orange and yellow peppers, cucumber, cilantro, tomatoes, left over black beans, and fresh avocado. I whipped up a salad dressing by adding chopped garlic and ginger, fresh rosemary, olive oil, braggs, lemon, agave, salt, cinnamon, and water.

I also set out a bunch of bread, cold cuts, cheese and condiments so people could build their own sandwiches. Lunch was at no particular time so I left everything out and labeled it so people could come in at their own hunger alarms.

After a small break, I began prepping the pasta sauce for the big dinner that night. In a big pot I sauteed several onions, mushrooms, peppers, garlic, ginger and rosemary in olive oil...

Once I had added one industrial sized can of tomato paste and one of diced tomatoes, I added some initial spices and a few splashes of red wine and put it on low. Since I needed to get out of that kitchen for awhile, I left a sign inviting people coming in and out to stir the sauce in my absence.

About an hour before serving, I added a bunch of fresh organic kale someone had dropped by our cabin.

Since we were planning on serving so many people that night, I moved everything over to the industrial sized kitchen in the main lodge. I found the biggest pot I could in there, and filled it with water to take on a massive amount of spaghetti noodles.

I got some helpers in the kitchen who were also cooking some food to contribute, and they helped prep the garlic bread Alia had picked up, while I worked on the salad.

I took mixed greens and added yellow and red peppers and chopped asparagus. I tossed it with more of the salad dressing I had made earlier that day.

The next morning was my final scheduled breakfast and I pretty much repeated everything, but added a roasted potato dish. I boiled them briefly so they would be softer and easy to roast, and then tossed them with stripes of onion, diced garlic, salt, curry, cumin, cayenne, cinnamon and black pepper.

I roasted the potatoes at about 450* in the oven, stirring often, until they were crispy on the outside and soft in the middle. I squeezed a touch of lemon on them right before serving!

Although my big meal duties were technically over, hungry bellies continually showed up at out cabin headquarters, so I found myself constantly preparing snacks and light meals throughout the rest of the campout.

Even though my hands were raw from washing dishes and my feet were numb from standing, I felt strangely fulfilled from feeding so many people... And finally it was time to put down the spatulas and cutting knives and hit the dance floor!!

ariel & sam are making ... plum sauce

2011-07-25T09:53:00.000-07:00

we have a lovely plum tree in the backyard and this year we had quite a plum harvest. some of them were really soft, so sam and i decided to make a plum sauce.

all you do is de-pit them, cut them into a cooking pot -- add about a cup of water, some cinnamon, ginger, a spoon of honey ...

and cook them 'til they're sauce. yum!

we used it mostly on top of our oatmeal in the morning, but it can be used on anything. a great way to preserve very ripe fruit!

kisses,

ariel

ariel's making ... wasabi chard salad

2011-07-11T13:03:00.000-07:00

this isn't really much of a "recipe." it's more of an idea. i love chard and for the summer, it's nice to eat it cold, as a salad. for this salad, i chopped and steamed a bunch of organic chard for about 3 minutes. then i drained it and washed it with cold water to stop it from cooking.

then i topped it with a spicy dressing of wasabi, soy sauce, fresh grated ginger, lemon juice, a dash of vinegar, slash of extra virgin olive oil and a bit of maple syrup. add whatever else inspires you ... top with toasted sesame seeds.

pretty darn tasty. enjoy!

kisses,

ariel

ariel's making ... upside down loquat, plum, banana, sage cake

2011-07-06T12:24:00.000-07:00

i love love love loquats! and in san francisco, you can find them all over the place growing on trees. no one really seems to eat them much -- so start looking around ... they are tangy and sweet and have beautiful seeds inside.

on the 4th of july we had a big bbq in the backyard (fotos here!) and i was in charge of dessert. we had a bunch of very ripe loquats, so i thought i'd make a cake. first i halved and de-pitted the loquats.

then i made the cake batter:

3/4 stick of organic butter

1 c. organic powdered sugar

1 organic egg

2 very ripe organic bananas

1/2 c. backyard plum sauce (that recipe coming soon!) ... you can use jam instead.

1/2 t. of baking soda and baking powder

1 1/2 c. organic w.w. flour

1 c. organic almond flour

mix together!

then i chopped in some fresh sage.

in a frying pan i added 1/4 t. of butter, melted it and then added the loquats and cooked them for about 3 minutes. then, leaving the loquats in the pan, i added the batter on top and put it in the oven at 400* for about 30 minutes.

right when it came out of the oven, i flipped it onto a plate -- and ta-da! upside down loquat cake!

i also made a simple ricotta cheese topping with a little sugar and ginger in it, that i dolloped onto of the cake as i was serving it. there was none left -- i think it was a hit!

happy loquat foraging!

kisses,

ariel

ariel tries to make cardoons ... fails ... and makes asparagus instead

2011-06-24T10:21:00.000-07:00

first off -- i'd like to say a big thank you to karina for the most amazing wedding cupcakes -- ever! they were so creative, beautiful and flavorful! seriously -- you should all hire her for all your cupcake needs! they added so much to our wedding and our friends are still taking about them! so thank you love! they were great!

so now -- that i'm officially a married lady -- here's my first post -- where i totally failed! great.

sam and i went to the castro farmers' market on wednesday night for the first time. it's a fantastic market! and one organic vendor had this long, green, celery looking veggie called cardoon. the farmer said it tasted like artichoke! yum!

i took it home and last night did a little research. i found a recipe for cardoon gratin on youtube and thought it sounded good. well ...

this cardoon takes some prep. you have to pull off the long fibers, soak it in lemon water and then boil it. i did all that -- but then when i tested it -- it was SO bitter. i mean -- gross bitter! what a bummer! it was even too bitter for sam, who loves eating bitter melon ... which is really bitter. so total fail! anyone have this problem with cardoon before??

anyhoo -- while the bitter cray-cray veggie was boiling ... i had already made a bechamel sauce for the gratin ...

for the sauce, i melted some butter and added about a 1/2 c. of organic whole wheat flour.

i melted that together and then i added a huge spoon of powder milk and water and whisked it together.

it got lovely and creamy -- and then i added salt, pepper and some chopped white onion.

i had already invited my parents to eat with us (since i had been so excited about the cardoons!) so now i needed a back up plan. we had also got some really lovely asparagus, so i chopped it up, steamed it for about 5 minutes, and then threw it in a baking pan.

then i covered it with the sauce and added some parmesan cheese and threw THAT all in the oven -- at 350* for about 25 minutes.

it came out great! really creamy and rich -- very yummy.

someday i hope to try non-bitter cardoons. maybe ...

kisses,

ariel

Karina Makes the Chow, Ariel Takes the Vow: cupcakes for the newlyweds!

2011-05-30T14:33:00.000-07:00

This weekend...oh, what a weekend. Our very own Ariel and Sam got themselves hitched on the beautiful Mt. Tam, and I was lucky enough to be there to witness one of the most unique and inspiring ceremonies imaginable... Even better- I was asked to make cupcakes for the celebratory event!

Ariel requested enough cupcakes to feed 75 folks, and hinted at the wish for two different flavors. I knew there was going to be a more traditional wedding cake front and center made by her incredibly talented friend Butch, so I decided to stick to my style and go bizarre and bold.

I made my favorite go-to vegan cake batter using all the organic ingredients I could get. (I made a little over double what this recipe calls for:)

2 cups water
3/4 cups light oil (I used extra virgin olive oil this time)
2 tbl white vinegar
4 tsp vanilla
3-1/2 cups unbleached flour (I used whole wheat instead and recommend it!)
2 cups sugar
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp baking soda cinnamon and cayenne

Then I split the batter in half and made two different flavor purees to add to each one.

Kiwi-Lavender (with added mango, ginger and dates)

And Banana-Chipotle (with added cayenne, ginger, more cinnamon and dates.)

I added each puree to one of the batter bowls, and made a few last minute flavor adjustments by adding this and that (more spice here, a little lemon to balance it there, agave to make it perfectly sweet..) I made both minis and regular size to make sure there was more than enough to go around.

Once they were all cooked at 350* to moist and golden perfection and cooled over night, I set up my decorating station and got to some serious business... (notice my new frosting syringe I just bought- an awesome addition to my cake garnishing tool box!)

I had made both frostings by starting with a base of room temperature earth balance, vanilla, powdered sugar, sea salt, dates, fresh ginger, cinnamon and cayenne. I added bananas and chipotle peppers to one, and kiwi, lavender buds, lemon, and rose water to the other.

I garnished the kiwi-mango-lavender cupcakes with dried pomegranate seeds, dried blueberries, and candy pearls...

And the Banana-Chipotle cupcakes with freeze-dried bananas, chili-coated dried pineapples, dried pomegranate seeds and more candy pearls.

Butch's gorgeous cake!

The crafty couple planned for the reception to be one giant potluck, and luckily all of their friends and family apparently are INCREDIBLE cooks. I am fairly confident that no one went hungry that night.

Congrats Ariel and Sam!

Karina's Spring Breakfast Series- Pt. 2- Easter Brunch!

2011-05-11T20:02:00.000-07:00

When the Downey house throws a Mimosa Brunch, there is never any messing around about the mimosa aspect of the event. In hosting our second annual Easter Brunch this year, I decided it was best that I prepare to make extra food to accompany our dozen+ bottles of bubbly and OJ and 20-something expected guests... I started by whipping up a huge batch of Lavender-Orange Infused French Toast. My work kindly let me take the day old bread that was to be composted (Several delicious loafs of whole- wheat bread that we get from San Francisco's local ACME Bread!) which saved me a ton of money and worked perfectly making a massive amount of FT.

For my batter, I threw in probably 7 or 8 fresh organic eggs, a half carton of vanilla hemp milk, a tablespoon or two of vanilla extract, some sea salt, cinnamon, some dried lavender buds, and a splash of orange juice in a big bowl and whisked it together until it was well blended. I'm never too concerned about measuring anything with my french toast batter (no surprise there), as long as its thick enough to give the bread a good coating without being to eggy. (For only a few servings of FT, I might only use 1 or 2 eggs...)

Since the bread was a little hard, I made sure to give it a good, thorough soaking on each side. I heated my pans on high, used Earth Balance for coating instead of butter in between each batch, and went to town on my FT Station. I also sprinkled some extra cinnamon on each piece before flipping them over. I threw all of the finished French Toast in a big foil pan in the oven on 200* to keep it warm, and periodically drizzled agave over it to keep it moist. I often like to make a fruit compote topping instead of just having a bottle of syrup out. (Its cheaper than offering up real maple syrup, and tastier and better for you than serving up the fake imitation route.)

For this occasion, I threw a carton of organic strawberries in the food processor with a peeled mango, some fresh ginger and rosemary and a splash of hemp milk and blended it up into a thick puree. I heated up two spoonfuls of earth balance in a small sauce pan on the stove and added my puree to it. I simmered the compote on low for over an hour, occasionally stirring in agave, cinnamon, fresh lemon, sea salt and a little maple syrup. In the food processor, I shredded two bags of trader joe's organic sweet potatoes. In a colander, I pressed all of the excess liquid out for a crispier outcome in the end.. In a skillet I sauteed a large yellow onion, several cloves of garlic, and two of my favorite field roast vegan sausages in some olive oil... Once I had added in my shredded sweet potatoes to the working saute and cooked them through for about 15 minutes while adding salt, paprika, pepper, cinnamon and cayenne, I transferred it all to a big baking pan, drizzled it with agave and olive oil and stuck it in the oven at 400* to get it nice and crispy. I left it in the oven for about an hour until all the guests arrived and it was ready to serve up, so I gave it a good stir every 15 minutes or so, so the top didn't burn. Lastly I prepared my egg scramble. I began by sauteing another large yellow onion in some olive oil, and then adding chopped asparagus, apple, zucchini, and orange, red and yellow sweet peppers. I flavored the mix with sea salt, Braggs, Cumin, Curry Powder, Cayenne and black pepper. Once people started to arrive, I poured in the 15 eggs that I had cracked into a bowl and lightly scrambled.. I stirred and spiced until they were fluffy and cooked through but not over-done! (Nothing worse than overcooked eggs!)
I had also set out some quinoa-beet salad I had snagged from the free pile at work, and Alma brought and amazing and fresh batch of tahini sauce that made for a mind-blowing topping for the sweet potato hash and eggs!

All in all, the food was a big hit and served as a necessary palate cleanser in between the many..many mimosas!

Karina's Spring Breakfast Series- pt. 1- Thyme For Eggs

2011-04-30T09:49:00.000-07:00

I've probably stated somewhere before that my favorite meal to both cook and eat is breakfast. (It shocks me that so many people can willingly skip it.) Taking a few minutes extra than it would to toast your frozen waffles or slam a bowl of Fruit Loops, you could have a restaurant-worthy plate of energizing morning goodness to fuel you for your day. I thought I'd share with you a few of the simple, creative breakfast twists I've tried over the last few weeks..

I purchased some organic fresh thyme, shallots, yellow summer squash and pears to treat myself for a rare weekend morning off to myself.

I began by heating up some olive oil in my saute pan and then adding my shallots. Once they were translucent and starting to brown, I added the thyme I had washed and (mostly) taken off its stems, and the sliced yellow squash and pears.

After a few minutes of sauteing, I added sea salt, pepper, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, and a dash of yellow curry powder. I also added some fresh spinach in there at the very end and let that wither into the mix.

I fried two eggs Over Medium (you can see me a flip an egg from a previous post here) and sprinkled a pinch of sea salt on them. I also toasted my favorite Mi Abuelita Tortillas blue corn tortillas that I get from The Haight St Market.

Ten Minutes later I was feasting on this delicious sweet and savory breakfast of champions and quite thrilled about it.

ariel's making ... root mash

2011-04-06T13:39:00.001-07:00

i feel kinda silly even doing a post on this, but it's so yummy, that i thought why not.

baby parsnips showed up at the farmers' market last weekend, so i chopped them up, really small, with some carrots and turnips, and boiled them 'til they were soft.

then i drained them and added a rather large dollop of butter, salt and pepper, and mashed them up.

sweet, buttery, way too easy! perfect for a foggy evening at home ...

have a lovely weekend darlings!

kisses,

ariel

chef sam ... makes purple sauerkraut

2011-04-03T22:06:00.000-07:00

look at the purple loveliness! so vibrant! we got a lot of purple cabbage one sunday from the free farm stand ... and so chef sam decided to have a go at sauerkraut. it was super easy -- the hardest part is that you have to wait ... and wait ... and then it's done!

all you need is:

organic cabbage

sea salt

water

in a large jar, add your chopped cabbage. sprinkle with salt -- add more cabbage -- keep doing this -- making layers of a dash of salt -- then cabbage.

then press is all down -- REALLY HARD -- try to get the cabbage to start to release it's own juices. the more compact you can make the cabbage -- the better.

now -- top off with water and add a weight on top of it (we used a glass jar filled with water), so that all the cabbage is totally submerged under the water (if it's not under the water -- it can rot.).

we added a pretty yellow cloth on the top too -- to keep out any bugs.

ok -- that's all done. now the hard part. wait .... at .... least .... TWO .... WHOLE ... WEEKS. (the warmer it is out -- the faster it goes though!).

it'll start to smell a lil' stinky and yummy. you'll know when it's done ;)

YUM! tangy! enjoy!

kisses,

ariel

Karina Steals Seaweed Salad for Sushi Feast!

2011-03-28T16:46:00.000-07:00

I'm a big fan of sushi and an even bigger fan of throwing sushi parties. It's a cheap, relatively easy way to feed and impress a lot of people at once. I actually did an entry on throwing a sushi party last year you can check out by clicking the link, so I won't get into the actual rolling process here...

Instead, I am going to share the AMAZING seaweed/avocado salad I made to go with the sushi. (Actually, the amazing seaweed/avocado salad I ripped off from a prominent, vegetarian fine dining spot I had eaten at that week... It rhymes with Bellenium...)

I made a big batch of glass rice noodles. These only need to be boiled in water for a few minutes total.

I sliced a bunch of organic raw kale and mixed it with chopped carrots, cucumbers, apples and seaweed. I was actually overwhelmed when I stopped by the Japanese market by the many different ways to buy seaweed (all with Japanese labels) and actually just ended up buying two containers of freshly and already- made seaweed salad to save some time.

I threw in some sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, two fresh avocados, and tossed it with a lime-tahini dressing I had in my fridge left over from a few nights earlier (olive oil, lime, tahini, garlic, salt, agave, cayenne, and pepper.)

This is just a picture of some sweet potatoes I roasted with garlic and onion that I put in a few rolls!

Like I stated in my previous sushi post- you can put ANYTHING in sushi. In these rolls I used carrot, cucumber, roasted sweet potato, mango, apple, yellow b. pepper, avocado, asparagus, dates, and almond butter. You just get all your ingredients together, cut and cooked (if needed) and make every roll completely different!

And of course always have plenty of pickled ginger and wasabi on hand!

Best part is all the cooking is done by the time people come over and you can just enjoy and eat rolls until you all burst!

Karina Does Betty Does!

2011-03-06T13:04:00.000-08:00

I have a lovely and impressive friend, Jesse Silver, who recently teamed up with other lovely and impressive women to start the online magazine, Betty Does.

Betty Does is a new San Francisco collective publication celebrating women and their work.

I had been following their posts and reading their interviews since they began a few months ago, so to say I was thrilled and flattered beyond belief when Jesse asked me to be her first interviewee is an understatement.

She asked to interview me about my cake making, food blogging, and acting, and we decided it would be fun to make a cake in the process. Since the lovely and impressive Betty photographer, Margo Moritz, was also coming over to document the interview, I offered to make them both dinner as well...

Like so many people out there, Jesse has a gluten intolerance so I decided to recycle an old idea I had of using shreddings of zucchini for a pasta rather than wheat noodles.

I made a vegan pesto by blending raw cashews I had soaked overnight with a few handfuls of organic basil, several cloves of garlic, a squeezed lemon, olive oil, sea salt, cayenne and pepper in the food processor.

I wanted to make some type of protein in the form of a "meatball" for the pasta, so I quickly improvised with the left over quinoa dish I had made the night before. I started by chopping some carrots, raw almonds, and sunflower seeds in the food processor.

I added a cup or two of the leftover quinoa dish I had made that consisted of quinoa, brussel sprouts, mushrooms, spinach, apples, vegan sausage and the lot of my usual spicing (salt, pepper, cumin, curry, cayenne, cinnamon, braggs and lemon.) I also threw in a few spoon fulls of organic re-fried beans I had open to help bind the mixture when it came to forming balls.

I heated up sunflower oil (good for high heat) and lightly fried them on all sides until they were crunchy on the outside.

I then set them on a paper towel to soak up any excess oil.

I boiled water in a pan and cooked my "zuc noods" for a few minutes until soft and then drained them.

In another pan, I sauteed an onion, some garlic, and several shitake mushrooms in olive oil and then salt and peppered them.

I threw the mushrooms and onions in with the pesto and "noodles" and mixed well.

I made a fresh salad of lettuce, spinach, orange segments, avocado, snap peas and almond slivers and tossed with a tahini-tomato dressing.

The Betties seemed quite pleased! Jesse brought a lovely Riesling to accompany the meal and it all made for a perfect appetizer to the Mango-Ginger-Sage cake that was made! (Coming soon in the Betty Does article!)

ariel's making ... french chocolate macarons

2011-02-23T08:46:00.000-08:00

leenie dear threw us a "french night" this past weekend, in preparation for our very near trip to france. i opted to bring dessert and decided to try and tackle the infamous french macaron. now don't get these confused with macaroons -- those are the coconut ones.

so here's what i did ... in a bowl mix together:

2 c. powdered sugar
1 c. almond flour
6 T. cocoa powder

in another bowl -- add the whites of 4 eggs -- that are at room temp.

beat the egg whites 'til they form soft peaks. then add to the whites 10 T. of granulated white sugar and beat that together for 2 minutes. it will start to get gooey and smooth in texture.

now carefully fold together the dry and egg white mixture until totally combined.

put your batter into a plastic bag and cut the tip off. pipe little blobs of the batter onto a baking sheet, that is covered in parchment paper. bake in a pre-heated oven for 15 minutes at 350*.

now it's time to make the ganache filling. chop up some dark chocolate -- as much as you want.

on the stove, heat up to a slow boil, about 1/2 a c. of heavy cream. turn off the cream and then add to it a dollop of butter and a few T. of cocoa powder. mix 'til combined.

then add in the chocolate chunks and mix 'til melted too. mix for a few minutes with a whisk. then place in a glass container and chill for at least 2 hours -- or overnight.

this is how the macarons looked right out of the oven. let them cool completely before taking them off the parchment -- otherwise they stick and fall apart (and then you have to eat the "mess-ups").

once they are totally cool -- and the ganache has firmed up -- slather the ganache on one cookie -- then find it a cookie buddy -- and you've just made a french macaron!

they were pretty awesome tasting -- and i even had a second batch that i made to take to a feast a liz's the next evening.

i still have a bunch of ganache leftover too ... what should i make it into??

happy baking.

hope you're all doing lovely!

kisses,

ariel

ariel's making ... love cookies

2011-02-14T16:32:00.000-08:00

happy love day, sweeties. it's been forevs! sorry. been way busy getting this whole photo biz started .... but today's special ... so i decided to make something extra tasty.

how about cookies with choco-mint for sam love? yum!

for these buttery delights ... you'll need:

1 stick organic butter
1 cup organic sugar or sucanat

mix these together. this may be difficult -- if you live in a cold house -- i put my stick of butter on my table this morning to let it thaw.

then i went and did my laundry.

when i came back it was still hard-as-a-rock ... so i used a potato masher to mix the butter and sugar. that worked great!

next i opened a bar of fair-trade mint-chocolate -- then i ate a bunch of it.

with what was left -- i chopped it up into chunks and added it to the butter sugar mixture, along with an organic egg.

then i mixed in 1 1/2 c. of organic flour, a pinch a sea salt, 1 t. of baking powder and a dash of milk.

once it was all mixed, i put in plastic and threw it in the freezer to chill.

while it chilled, i got way productive by putting away the laundry.

about 30 minutes later -- i rolled the dough out -- cut into cute heart shapes -- and baked at 350* for about 15 minutes ... give or take.

i hope sam love likes them. i bet he will.

now -- give someone a kiss! and tell at least two people you love, that you love them -- today and everyday!

kisses,

ariel

p.s. the valentine's are by two amazing girls ... siren suzy and countess karin. i love you both so much!

Karina and Alma's Holiday Feast fit for a Hundred..

2011-01-18T16:46:00.000-08:00

Yes, it is already February, but the holiday whirlwind is just settling enough for me to present my Christmas Eve dinner entry for you all...

This was the first year that I did not travel to my home in Colorado for the holidays. As sad I was not to be with my family for Christmas, my plans to stay in San Francisco and cook a truly epic meal with my best friend Alma gave me adequate tidings of comfort and joy.
We daydreamed and plotted for weeks ahead of time of wild food combinations and adventurous flavors, and on Christmas Eve morning, we filled our glasses with bottomless pineapple mimosas and began our heavy work load in the kitchen...

(So much happened in both the weeks of planning and the in-kitchen 10+ hours of speed cooking, that is impossible to document every spice, thought and detail that occurred. I will do my best to share an overview of what we made and the essentials of how we got there.)

PURPLE LAVENDER ROSEMARY MASHED POTATOES:

I began by simmering fresh rosemary and dried lavender buds in a cup and a half of earth balance (vegan butter substitute). I stirred this on low heat for 15-20 minutes.

Using cheese cloth, I strained out the lavender and rosemary and set aside my infused "butter" to thicken up at room temp.

I washed our 2 dozen or so, organic purple potatoes and boiled them in left over beet water (to enhance the color that much more) until soft and ready for mashing.

I threw in several chopped garlic cloves, my rosemary-lavender infused earth balance, a splash of hemp milk, salt, pepper, cinnamon, agave, cayenne, curry and powdered ginger. I spiced and adjusted until the taste of this lavender sea of clouds made us weep with awe and intoxication.

STUFFED PEPPERS AND MUSHROOMS:

Alma began by washing her mini sweet peppers and cutting off the tops, and using a small tspn to 'gut' her crimini mushrooms without mercy. She made sure to keep the insides of the mushrooms so she could use them for the stuffing pate.

Next she fried onions, garlic, the saved mushroom innards, and walnuts in a large pan with olive oil. She spiced with cumin, white and black pepper, paprika, salt. When done, she placed this in a food processor and ran it until her pate was perfectly creamy. She stuffed the peppers and mushrooms with pate, garnished with pine nuts and added a pinch of paprika on top.

Finally she placed them in the stove for 20-30 min at 300*. Dangerously good and so small they mysteriously kept disappearing...

COUS-COUS STUFFED APPLES:

Alma had me cut the apples in half and gut them (again, mercilessly).

She cooked a big batch of semolina cous cous which tasted amazing. To add to her cous cous, she sauteed eggplant, onions, walnuts, vegan field roast sausage, cilantro and mint. She spiced all this with lemon, garlic, white pepper, agave nectar, chili powder, and salt. She made sure to put plenty of olive oil on the apples before stuffing them and throwing them in the stove for about 30 min at 250*-300*.

To top off the stuffed apples, we whipped up a mind-blowing batch of cashew cream. We did this by soaking cashews for a few hours, draining them, and putting them in the food processor with some coconut milk yogurt, lemon, agave, salt, paprika, cinnamon and water.

MANGO CHUTNEY (DIPPING SAUCE 1 FOR NAAN APPETIZER):

I have never made a mango chutney, so I started by looking up this recipe found on the food network website:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/mango-chutney-recipe/index.html

It called for:

4 pounds fresh mangos, ripe but not too soft, peeled (I Actually only had 2 mangoes and it worked fine.)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon chile flakes
2 1/2 cups medium dice red onion
1/4 cup minced fresh ginger
1 cup small dice red bell pepper
8 ounces unsweetened pineapple juice
4 ounces cider vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
Kosher salt and fresh ground white pepper
1/2 cup raisins or golden raisins (I did not use these- Alma hates adding raisins in food!)
1/2 cup toasted, roughly chopped macadamia nuts (I used peanuts instead since I had them!)

This is that recipe:
In a saute pan heat the oil and add the chili flakes. Be careful not to burn the chili, just toast to flavor the oil. Add the onions and sweat until soft. Add the ginger and bell pepper and saute for 1 to 2 minutes. Finally add the sliced, chopped mango and cook for 1 more minute.

In a separate bowl, combine the pineapple juice, vinegar, sugar, and curry powder. Add this mixture to the pan. Stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a bare simmer and reduce for about 30 minutes, stirring frequently. Season with salt and pepper. Add the nuts (peanuts) and set aside to cool.

I also added fresh cilantro, mint, cayenne, and various other things until I was happily satisfied with its tangy, spicy balance.

Alma also made a second dipping sauce with lentils. She cooked green lentils until soft and threw them in the food processor with plain vegan yogurt, a touch of milk (hemp), fried onions and garlic, garam masala, white and black pepper, lemon & salt. She blended this until creamy, and played with the spices like "a fragrant sandbox..."

We planned on making our Naan from scratch, but once we realized how many dishes we had left to make, we ran to the market in a sweat, and luckily found some lovely whole wheat naan already made. Both sauces were a very big hit!

BEET PESTO:

During our planning stages we decided to make a scallop appetizer and we envisioned a lovely beet pesto topping each succulent sea pillow. As with every sauce we made, I went WAY over board and made an entire vat when we only needed a few dollops...
I threw in several fresh handfuls of organic basil in food processor with 4 or 5 beets I had boiled until soft, a 1/2 cup of pine nuts, several garlic cloves, 2 or 3 tbls olive oil, a squeezed lemon, salt, pepper, and cayenne.

Just...damn. We ended up putting this on everything in the end it was so good!

CAULIFLOWER PUREE:

The best scallop dish I ever had out in a restaurant was in Nelson, New Zealand where they served them over a cauliflower puree. I've been meaning to recreate it for years and I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to make and make well.
We boiled a chopped head of cauliflower in water until soft. After draining it, I put it in the food processor with a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, cumin, salt, pepper, cayenne, lemon and paprika.

Enough said and done- this cauliflower puree was AMAZING!

We pan-seared each scallop in hot safflower oil, sprinkled a little lemon and paprika on them once golden brown, and we had one heck of a scallop appetizer!

Alma put together a perfect salad of fresh arugula and spinach, blueberries, artichokes hearts, shaved fennel and almond slivers. We both tampered with the salad dressing so long, I couldn't possible begin to tell you everything that made it in. We'll just call it a wasabi tahini lime dressing! (All you need to know is that is was delicious!)

We had a ton of the eggplant/vegan sausage cous-cous left over so we just served it for another side dish...(like we needed more food..)

SESAME-LIME ENCRUSTED BLACK COD:

It's a rare and special occasion when I buy seafood to cook for a meal, but this was certainly one of them. I went down to the San Francisco Ferry Building and purchased some wild-caught Black Cod along with our scallops. About a half hour before dinner time, I washed the fish pieces and patted them dry with a paper towel.

I prepared a crust of black and white sesame seeds, panko crumbs, shaved ginger, shaved lime zest, salt and cayenne pepper.

We coated the fish in a mix of egg white and hemp milk and generously bathed each piece in our crunchy crust.

We cooked each piece of fish in safflower oil on high heat for maybe 3- 5 minutes on each side until golden brown, and put them in a baking dish in the oven at 350* to finish cooking through until medium done. Once we pulled them out of the oven, I gave them a nice spritz of fresh lemon juice.

LEMON- CHOCOALATE- ROSE RAW CHEESECAKE:

Last, but CERTAINLY not least was dessert. Alma had acquired the raw lemon cheesecake recipe from Cafe Gratitude and we decided to go all out and make it, only adding our own twist by adding cocoa powder and rose water.

I'll let you google their recipe for it, but I can tell you it uses cashews, dates, almonds, vegan milk (almond), lemon juice, agave, liquid vanilla, lecithin, and coconut oil...

Dear God, it should be illegal!

Although we doubted it in moments, we pulled our monster of a meal off just in the nick of time. Our guests were more than pleased to take some of the feast off of the table and into their bellies. The only problem was that we only invited two people over...you can imagine the leftovers we were forced to consume over the next several days!

ariel's ... eating hella soup

2010-12-28T12:07:00.001-08:00

besides piles of xmas cookies, this winter i've been eating nothing but soup. and more soup. it's such an awesome thing to make, because you can use whatever you have ... and leftovers are fab-tab-ulous.

for this last batch -- gug and marie were coming over for dinner with their cutie boys -- so we had a lot of mouths to feed -- so we thought -- let's make some soup!

here's what we made:

saute one chopped organic onion in 2 T. of organic extra virgin olive oil. add 4 chopped organic carrots, 6 chopped organic potatoes, 1 cup organic brown rice, and 1 cup organic split peas. add water to almost the top of the pot.

cook for about 30 minutes -- add some bay leaves. add some chopped kale. cook more -- 'til it's all tender and yummy. turn off heat -- spice with salt, pepper and cayenne (whatever you like!).

we served it with fresh bread -- and my dad's kimchee (i'll post a recipe for that soon), which everyone piled on top of the soup. yum!

happy new years darlings! slurp slurp.

kisses,

ariel

Karina's TDAY Spicy Apple Carrot Cake

2010-12-05T12:35:00.000-08:00

In my last entry I featured my family's incredible Thanksgiving meal and promised I would soon follow up with the dessert I made for it. Its a little late, but here is my spiced apple and carrot cake journey...

First I sliced two or three beautiful pink lady apples and packed them in a baking dish with some olive oil, fresh ginger, chopped hot peppers, cinnamon, powdered ginger, nutmeg, cayenne, agave, and sea salt. I set them in the oven at about 425* and roasted them until fairly soft and juicy (maybe 20 or 30 minutes).

While the apples were roasting I boiled a bag full of organic baby carrots until soft and then drained them. I put them in the food processor with my baked apples, agave, another round of the same spices, and some hemp milk.

I decided it still needed some more depth in flavor and consistency, so I added several scoops of raw crunchy almond butter.

I made my go-to vegan cake batter by combining:

2 cups water
3/4 cups light oil (I used safflower this time)
2 tbl white vinegar
4 tsp vanilla
3-1/2 cups unbleached flour (I used whole wheat instead and recommend it!)
2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda

Then I added the majority of my apple/carrot puree and mixed well. I saved about a cup or so of it to add to the frosting....

I added more cinnamon, cayenne, ginger and nutmeg until I was satisfied with the kick and had a delicious batter.

I formed two layers for my family's cake, and then made the rest as minis to sell at the market around the corner. I was afraid they might be a little dry, so to make sure, I punctured little holes over the tops of the finished baked goods and brushed a little maple syrup over them.

For the frosting I took several scoops of Earth Balance, a cup or so of powdered sugar, my cup of left over apple/carrot puree, sea salt, cinnamon and a touch of vanilla. I added more p. sugar and earth balance to get the flavor and thickness perfect, and set it in the fridge to set up a little bit.

I had a few vegan carrot/watermelon gummies leftover that I had made the week before, so I decided to finely slice these to decorate with. (I will soon add an entry on these gummies- for they were awesome!).

I garnished with shaved coconut, the last figs I got for the season (tear), almond slices, my gummy shapes and slices, and toasted carrot shreds I had baked with agave and a little olive oil.

It was a big hit. I personally was far too full from gorging myself at dinner to eat any that night, but I more than made up for it by having it for breakfast..for the next several mornings.

It was my first time substituting the whole wheat flour in my base recipe and I think I am switching over from here on out- not only is it better for you, it may have been even more moist and delicious than ever before. YUM!

ariel and chef sam make ... yogurt

2010-12-02T09:15:00.000-08:00

i can't believe we've never tried making yogurt before. it's sooo easy, tastes better than anything you can get in the store ... and it's really cheap to make a huge pot of it! this is our second batch ... and i have a feeling we'll never be able to go back to the store bought stuff.

all you need is milk and a T. of yogurt as your starter (you might have a buy a small yogurt for the first batch, but then after that, always save a spoon of your last batch to make the next one in the future!).

start by adding milk to a pot (the milk into yogurt ratio is one-to-one -- so pour in as much milk as yogurt you want to end up with). then put the milk over a double boiler and cook it for about 15 minutes.

let it get frothy and boil for a few minutes, then turn it off. let it cool until it's like a warm-ish bath. then stir in the T. of yogurt. cover -- and store in a warm place (we put it in our oven since the pilot light makes it a nice warm spot.) now the hard part ... WAIT!

about 7-10 hours later -- you have yogurt!! once it's done, store it in the fridge.

i just made my fave breakfast with it -- raw oats, yogurt and bobeda farm plum jam. yum!

happy yogurt making!

kisses,

ariel

Karina's Thanksgiving Plate...

2010-11-30T15:37:00.000-08:00

2010 marked a special Thanksgiving, as it was the first that I got to spend it with my parents in probably 8 years. My sister offered her new house in Santa Cruz as a gathering spot for friends and family who could make it, and I was relieved to find out I only had to come up with a few side dishes and a dessert to bring down.

Everyone prizes their helping of meat on Thanksgiving, so I tried to come up with some special veggie substite that would prevent my plate or palate from feeling left out of the festivities. My mother doesn't touch soy and I wanted something everyone could eat, so I decided to start from scratch, and improvise some "beet balls"...

I started by soaking a bunch of raw cashews overnight, and boiling 6 beets until soft and cooked. The next morning, I sauteed an onion and a half, all of the beet stems and leafs, a pack of crimini mushrooms, some garlic, and a left over vegan field roast sausage (soy free) in some olive oil and spiced it with sea salt, pepper, cayenne, cinnamon and curry.

I drained and pressed all of the sauteed veggies with paper towels to pull out any remaining moisture, and put everything in the food processor. I pureed it all until it was well blended (with all of the big chunks gone.)

I added some cumin and more curry...

It was too soft and wet, so I added a cup or two of rolled oats. I also added some agave and chili powder...

When I was satisfied with the flavoring, I chopped up a carton of whole wheat graham crackers and a cup of raw almonds in the food processor, and made a crust for my beet balls to make them crunchy. I formed small balls and dipped them each in a dish of hemp milk and egg, and rolled them generously in my graham almond crust mix to get a good coating.

I packed them up uncooked and took them to Santa Cruz.

Once we were half an hour before eating time, I heated a few spoonfuls of organic coconut oil until melted and extremely hot, and lightly fried each of my beet balls until brownish/black and crunchy on the outside.

I let them cool on a paper toll to soak up the oil, and served them warm.
AHHHHHH- these were amazing! I'm kinda obsessed. Everyone was both highly amused and blown away with them. Its a good thing too, because we were eating leftover beet balls for three days!

I also wanted to get some greens in there, so I decided to recreate a pear and kale dish I had made only a week or two before. I rinsed my fresh organic kale and steamed it until soft. I drained this and packed it up for the trip down to Santa Cruz...

I always stare at special mushroom selections at the local market, but rarely indulge in them because of the higher price. If there is any occasion to go big, this was certainly one of them, so I purchased this lovely bundle of organic brown beech mushrooms.

I sauteed an onion, my mushrooms, chopped garlic, four sliced anjou pears, and fresh rosemary and sage from my sister's garden in some olive oil. I spiced with some salt and lemon. I simmered all of this until soft, well cooked and juicy.

I added the kale, warmed it all up, and added agave, cinnamon, more lemon, and cayenne.
Kale in perfection.

My sister made a vegan candied ginger yam mash...

...Rosemary and garlic mashed potatoes (that Annie whipped up!) in both a creamy and buttery version for the family, and a rice milk and earth balance version especially for me...

And our family's Tday staple of cranberry salad jello mold with a side of mayo (yep, I said it).

Alia's friend Ginger made a potato yam cranberry medley that was heavenly...

And this vegan corn bread stuffing that I couldn't stop inhaling...

Alia got an all organic, locally raised turkey that she named Eda. As in Eda-ble. Clever. So clever, in fact that I had my first bite in Turkey in years!

This was only my first plate full...

Val and Annie getting ready...

Mom and Dad...

And of course, the pinata. What Thanksgiving is complete without a donkey pinata filled with organic skin product samples? No one I care to be at, that's for sure....

After stuffing ourselves to the brim with helping after helping, (not to mention the several bottles of wine that seemed to disappear) the brave souls still standing ventured on to dessert. My sister made an amazing vegan pumpkin ginger pie that I somehow didn't get a picture of, and I made the above Spicy Apple Carrot cake. I will feature that in my next post as I think this one has had enough to digest already!

ariel's making ... kale and satsuma salad

2010-11-15T16:33:00.001-08:00

oh kale -- you love to take over my fridge this time of year! but time to do something different with you! i decided to try kale and citrus salad -- and it was da' bomb!

you'll need:

1 big-oo bunch of organic kale, washed and steamed for about 10 minutes

3 organic satsumas

for the dressing:

3 T. organic extra virgin olive oil

2 T. organic apple cider vinegar

1/2 t. chopped fresh organic ginger

2 cloves chopped organic garlic

1 T. organic honey

1 T. organic chili sauce

pepper and salt to taste

mix -- toss -- consume! YUM!

happy summer-in-november day to you all!

kisses,

ariel

Karina's Falafel Pizza Pie

2010-11-12T08:36:00.000-08:00

I love pizza, but rarely part take in it or its cherished convenience due to the fact that I avoid dairy, meat, and when I can- white bread. When I want pizza, it usually means I must find the time to start from scratch and do it myself...

I also love Mediterranean food. I love falafel, and hummus, and pomegranate seeds- I love it all. I am lucky enough to have a Israeli best friend who can cook as well as her genius and talented mother, and they have both shared with me incredible flavors and recipes I might not be so exposed to otherwise.

A few weeks back I decided to get creative, and combine these two loves by making my very own- Falafel Pizza.

My favorite pizza dough is made with cornmeal, so I looked up a few recipes and started with this one I found on Martha Stewart's website:

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Pinch of sugar

2/3 cups warm water

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface (I used organic whole wheat instead)

1/4 cup cornmeal, plus more for pizza peel or baking sheet

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for bowl

I added some extra spices- (cayenne, curry, cinnamon and thyme) for a little extra subtle flavor in the crust.

In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast and sugar over the warm water. Let stand until yeast is dissolved and mixture is foamy, about 10 minutes.

Combine flour, cornmeal, and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center, and add the yeast mixture and oil. Slowly stir ingredients with a wooden spoon just until dough starts to come together. Turn out dough on a lightly floured work surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, 7 to 10 minutes.

Divide dough into four 4-ounce balls. Place balls in a shallow oiled bowl, turning to coat with oil; cover with plastic wrap, and let rise 1 hour at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator.

The next steps of the borrowed recipe called for a pizza stone to bake on, but instead I just spread my dough out in a few baking pans once it had sat and risen for an hour. I used my finger tips and palms and worked the dough until it spread out fully in each dish bottom. I preheated the oven at 500* and set my ready crusts aside for the toppings.

I thought the most appropriate sauce for this blending of cuisines might be a nice garlicy pesto. In my food processor, I threw in a few cups of washed fresh basil, a handful of pine nuts, several garlic cloves, sea salt, lemon, and olive oil. As usual, I "guestimated" all of the proportions until I had the most desirable consistency and taste possible.

I could seriously eat this pesto with a spoon. Wait- I did....

I had a bunch of fresh zucchinis and carrots, so I had the idea to shred them in the food processor and spread them over the entire pizza almost as a cheese replacement...

I would love to try making falafel from scratch one day soon, but on this occasion I had just purchased an organic falafel mix that you add water to, and fry them in a pan in some light oil.

I followed the directions (plus added in some extra cayenne for more spice in the mix) and fried each one on each side until brown and almost crispy on the outside...

I coated each of my crusts with a nice thick spread of pesto, sprinkled on a generous layer shredded zucchini/carrot, tossed on some halved cherry tomatoes, and broke apart bits of falafel to top them off..

While they were baking for about 8-10 minutes at 500*, I prepared an Israeli-style salad by finely chopping up onion, cucumber, tomatoes, and pomegranate seeds and mixing it with olive oil, sea salt and lemon. When I was visiting in Israel last summer, we literally had a salad similar to this with every meal.

Once my steaming pizzas came out and cooled for a few minutes, I spooned out dollops of fresh hummus I had made on top, and lastly sprinkled the pies with fresh pomegranate seeds.

If the marrying of these two dishes couldn't bring about world peace, I know not what else could.

ariel makes ... a squash pie for suzy's party

2010-11-07T16:09:00.000-08:00

suzy q threw a lovely wine tasting party this weekend and for the occasion, i threw together a squash pie. i forgot to take photos of my cooking process and all that remained at the end of the night was this lonely piece and people asking me for the recipe ... so here it is.

somehow this recipe made hella pie filling ... i ended up making three pies ... so use less if you don't want so many pies.

for three pies (no crust ... that's just too much work!) you'll need:

1 organic butternut squash, baked

2 organic delicata squash, baked

1 can organic evaporated milk

5 free-range organic eggs

1 huge T. organic cinnamon

1 1/2 c. organic sugar

once the squash is baked and soft (i like to cut them in half, de-seed and bake on a cookie sheet with a litte water, cut side down), spoon it into a blender ... and then just add everything else. pour into greased pie pans (i used coco butter to grease the pans, but olive oil or butter would work great too). bake for about an hour at 350* or until a little golden on top and not liquidy anymore.

add a room full of beautiful friends, several bottles of red wine ... and you've got the perfect fall party.

props to liz for guessing all the wines correctly ... that was amazing!

happy sunday darlings!

kisses,

ariel

ariel's making ... pesto hummus

2010-10-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

i adore fresh basil ... and i love hummus ... so why not combine the two?

for this dip you'll need:

4 cups of organic cooked garbanzo beans, plus 1 cup of their liquid
juice of 2 organic lemons
garlic ... as much as you dare! go wild!
handful of fresh organic basil leafs

4 T. organic roasted tahini
2 T. extra virgin organic olive oil
1 t. organic cayenne powder
sea salt and pepper to taste

blend it all together 'til smooth.

so good ... and so easy.

serve with fresh veggies and pita and enjoy!!

kisses,

ariel

Karina's Mini Market Treats Meet Week Two...

2010-10-17T12:45:00.000-07:00

Round Two mini vegan cupcakes for the Ashbury Market...

I started with a big batch of my favorite vegan vanilla cake batter and divided it into 3 bowls. I went to the market to see what seasonal fruits and herbs I could acquire to come up with three different flavors.
I decided on: Raspberry- Ginger, Spiced Pear-Mint, and Spicy Chocolate-Chili.

In the food processor I pureed a carton of fresh washed raspberries, about a tbl of chopped fresh ginger, some agave and lime. I added this sweet and tarty mix to the first bowl.

For the second, I pureed two extremely ripe pears, a handful washed mint, agave, cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne and lime and added that to the next bowl...

Lastly I melted about a cup of vegan chocolate chips and added sea salt, cayenne pepper and chili pepper powder to it.

I mixed this together. I continued to add more cayenne and chili powder until I was satisfied with the kick.

Perhaps it was the fresh fruit, but for some reason, the first two didn't rise as much as usual..

On the other hand, the chocolate minis rose a little too much and overflowed into each other. I was upset at first and thought they might be ruined, but they tasted delicious and I remembered there is always hope in saving the aesthetic of your cake (or cupcakes) with some good old reliable frosting. I cut the size of mini cupcakes I was looking for out of the mass, leaving the excess, overcooked tops behind. I packed them tightly with my fingers and placed them in mini cupcake sleeves.

I made three different batches of frosting, all starting with earth balance, powdered sugar, sea salt, cinnamon, agave and vanilla. For the first one, I added raspberries and ginger, the second, mint and pear, and the third, with chocolate, cayenne, and chili powder.

Not a flawless batch shape wise, but the flavors were all still really really good and with the frosting and garnishing, they even managed to look pretty cute...

After everything they were a hit with friends, roomies, and co-workers, and I even sold some at the market!

ariel loves ... leftovers

2010-10-13T07:32:00.000-07:00

ok -- so we're all busy and sometimes the idea of cooking a homemade meal every night of the week is daunting. but here's how to make it work (without having to rely on take-out!) ... make big portions and eat amazing leftovers!

chef sam and i made this gin-nor-mas vegetarian enchilada the other day and then we had leftovers the next night ... that actually tasted better after a day!

i mean, don't make tooo big of a dish -- four or five nights of the same thing can just be tooo much ... but a dish that lasts for two or three days is usually perfect!

so, have fun cookin' and thinkin' big!

kisses,

ariel

Karina's Corn Tortilla Taqeria...

2010-10-08T13:51:00.001-07:00

I few weeks ago I invited my friend Sophie over to join the roommies and me for dinner. I had some leftover fake gound beef I wanted to use up, so I decided to have a taco night!

I noticed I was out of corn tortillas, and as I was about to head out the door to buy some, the idea to make them from scratch popped into my head. I had never taken this challenge on before, I wondered if it might be easier than I imagined...

I happened to have some left over Bob's Red Mill Masa Harina (golden corn four). I looked on the back to see what its recipe called for, and was in disbelief at its simplicity:

2 cups Golden Masa Harina Corn Flour
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1 1/2 - 2 cups Hot Water

Mix salt into the masa harina corn flour. Slowly pour the water into the dough to get a good consistency. The dough should be firm and springy when touched, not dry or sticky. Let rest for about an hour, covered.

Preheat a griddle or flat surface. Divide the dough into 2 inch balls. Press dough between two pieces of waxed paper, or flatten according to a tortilla press directions. Place flatten dough on a hot griddle or flat surface and cook until the top of the tortilla starts to look cooked, about 1 minute. Flip to the other side and heat for a few seconds. Makes 12 – 6 inch tortillas.

I, of course, took the liberty of adding some cayenne pepper and cinnamon...

At first I tried it with just my hands and no wax paper but it was really difficult to get them to stretch wide enough and not fall apart. Then i decided to try rolling them out with a jar. This worked better but to get them not to stick to the jar, I brought out the wax paper and then it worked perfectly.

Sophie jumped right in to help so I could get back to the other elements of the meal!

I had begun cooking some orzo pasta on the stove and decided to saute onion, a bunch of organic spinach, chopped peaches, cherry tomatoes and lastly, pistachios.

Once the orzo was cooked and soft, I drained it and added it to the spinach/peach saute pan. I spiced with some sea salt, pepper, cayenne, oregano, thyme, cumin, and a dash of cinnamon. Lastly, I added some chunks of leftover vegan (almond) pepper jack cheese and let it melt in!

I had also sauteed some onion, garlic, and chopped up carrots in another pan before adding the fake ground beef to it. I spiced this with sea salt, pepper, cumin and cayenne...

I took my other peach and some ripe avocados and made a peach-guacamole by adding lemon, sea salt, cayenne and a splash of olive oil.

I took my non-stick saute pan and heated it up for several minutes until it got really hot. Without oil or anything, you simply place a tortilla in it and move it around with your fingers in a small circular movement until it starts to turn golden brown and even dark brown in spots. Then you just flip it and do it on the other side. SO EASY!

I still had some roasted corn hummus I had made earlier in the week so I set that out as another taco topping...

We assembled and devoured. By far the best (and most personally satisfying) tortilla I've ever had. That equals one heck of a taco.

ariel's making ... a colorful salad

2010-10-06T06:33:00.000-07:00

did you know that the healthiest meals are colorful ones? it means you're getting a wide variety of nutrients ... and the more beautiful they are, the more fun they are to eat!

this was a salad i made the other day ... and it was just so colorful that i thought i'd share a few fotos of it ... pretty colorful, right?

so when you're cooking, try to mix up the colors ... your eyes (and taste buds!) will thank you!

happy color mixing!

kisses,

ariel

ariel's steeping ... a hot cup of chai

2010-09-29T07:35:00.000-07:00

let's talk about chai. it's so super hip ... and at the cafe it can be so super expensive! but ... it's so eazzy to make at home! you can even make your own tea mix ... or buy a pre-made one (which is what i have!). just make sure it's fair-trade ... and organic!

all you really need to do ... is steep the tea ... add some honey and hot milk ...

and ta-daaaa ... a chai tea latte! ab-fab, right?

happy sipping!

kisses,

ariel

Karina Sends Her Girls Off with a 3-Layered Goodbye...

2010-09-28T14:06:00.000-07:00

Its just so happened that my first batch of mini cupcakes I was going to sell at the the corner market was scheduled for delivery the same day that two of my closest friends were throwing their going away party. (Before taking off for Central and South America.) I saw no reason not to kill (or bake) two birds with one stove.

Since the market suggested three different flavors, I decided to use the remaining batter to make a three layer cake for my ladies.

When I asked Lauren what her favorite cake was, she immediately mentioned carrot cake. I decided to make the first layer and batch a vegan ginger cashew carrot cake.

I looked up a few carrot cake recipes to get some ideas and decided to start with this one:

3 Cups shredded
1 1/4 Cup Organic Unbleached Sugar
2 Cups Organic Unbleached Flour
1/2 Teaspoon of Sea Salt
2 Teaspoons of Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon of Baking Soda
2 Teaspoons of Cinnamon
1/2 Cup of OJ
3/4 Cup of Canola Oil
1 Cup of raisins shopping list
1 Cup of Chopped walnuts

Lucky for me my good friend Morgan was visiting from out of town so I had me an assistant!

I threw a bug bunch of washed, organic carrots in the food processor to shred them and then I pressed out the excess liquid in a colander. Instead of walnuts I crushed some cashews (because that's what I had), and finely chopped up a about two tbls of fresh ginger.

I didn't have any OJ in the house, but we did find a really over-ripened peach so I had Morgan chop that up finely instead and add it with a few splashed of water and almond milk.

Once the carrot/liquid mix was well blended, we added it to the dry ingredients we had mixed as well. This took a lot of hand power as it was too thick and difficult to mix with a wooden spoon. I added some vanilla and agave for some more sweetness and water for a lighter texture because it was tasting and feeling more like a muffin mix than cake mix to me.

The flavor of the batter was good, but my intuition told me this was going to be a little denser and muffin-like than I was hoping for. I figured sometimes that's what you get with experimenting with new recipes and hoped for the best.

I used my trusty, go-to vegan cake recipe as the base for the other two flavors. I made a big batch of basic cake batter, and divided it in two for my two different flavors. With what the seasonal market had to offer me, I decided to make both a Lavender- Vanilla layer, and a Blueberry Mint one.

For the first of the two, I added a few tablespoons of dried lavender buds...

...Scraped some organic vanilla beans, and chopped up a little fresh ginger.

For the second I blended some fresh blueberries, mint, lemon and agave and added this compote into the other bowl of batter.

We filled our various cake-pans and cupcake trays and started the process of baking them all.

The carrot cake came out looking beautiful, but my hunch was right that it was a little dryer and denser than desired. I decided to add some moisture and sweetness by forking holes all over the surface, and drizzling some organic Vermont maple syrup my friend Dan had given me.

I made a vegan vanilla-ginger frosting by throwing some earth balance, powdered sugar, cinnamon, sea salt, fresh ginger, and vanilla extract into the food processor. I frosted the first carrot cake layer with this delicious frosting. I found in the fridge a small container of the blueberry lavender frosting I had made the week before, so I decided to alternate the second blueberry mint layer with this.

I topped my final layer, lavender-vanilla, with my new vanilla-ginger frosting and we began decorating with all the goodies we set out for ourselves.

Strawberries, pistachios, shaved coconut, fresh mint, crystallized ginger and blueberries, Oh my!

The cake was brought to the bar hosting the farewell extravaganza, and was just about gone by the time I left!
(Note: this is a good tactic to use if you want the owner and bartenders to grant you free drinks all night!)

Proud Cake Mama's!

Couldn't forget to drop off our mini-friends at the market as well! The first round did really well- I went in the following week and there was one left on the plate!

ariel's making ... vegan coconut curry carrot soup

2010-09-22T07:43:00.000-07:00

look at how cute these little carrots are! perfect for soup, right?

for dinner with friends, i decided to make a simple vegan soup. first i sauted some very finely chopped organic carrots, onions and garlic at low heat for about 10 minutes.

then i added about 5 cups of water and 1/2 c. organic tomato sauce. then i added about 1 T. of curry powder. once the carrots were tender, i added 1 can of organic light coconut milk and salt and pepper to taste.

it ended up turning out great -- and talk about easy! what a super fragrant and delectable concoction!

kisses,

ariel

Karina, Alma & The Cheesy FAUXdito Crunch..

2010-09-21T18:21:00.000-07:00

Everyone has those things they ate when they were young and their stomach's were invincible. If you were like me and most kids my age, you lived for the moments when your parents caved (or were not around) so you could devour endless amounts of fast food.
My friend Alma and I for years now have been reminiscing about our pre-vegetarian/health-conscious days where taco bell was the end all be all and the Cheesy Gordita Crunch was the best that a jobless teen's allowance could buy.

We decided to pay homage to our beloved taco bell classic by remaking it, but this time completely vegan!

To start, Alma began cooking and spicing some veggie ground-beef with fresh onions, salt, pepper, and cayenne.

The real trick to this recreation was the special cheesy sauce. We thought long and hard of those beloved mystery flavors and decided to use veganaise for the creamy base, and add two types of vegan cheese (soy cheddar and almond pepper jack). For the spice/smokey factor that we recalled, we bought some chipotle peppers. I started by melting portions of both cheeses and adding everything to the food processor.

I threw in some cilantro as well as cayenne, chili powder, salt, and pepper for some more kick and flavor.

Its been a long hot while since either of us have tasted the real thing but I think we came about as close as we could possibly come in the vegan world. (My roommate who had conveniently had the real deal the week before verified that it tasted exactly the same!)

We chopped up lettuce and tomato for the toppings...

And Alma made a bomb guac just for our enjoyment, although taco bell never offered this without a charge!

We also cooked a big pot of brown rice to complete our meal...

And we shredded our cheese, topped the outer soft tortillas, and put them in the toaster oven to melt...

And the assembly line went into production:

Taco Bell, I think we may have you beat. These were SOOOOOO good- better in fact than we ever remembered. SF freinds- Look out in the Mission after last call- Alma and I just may start selling these Cheesy Fauxdito Crunchies for profit!

ariel's making ... a vegan orzo salad

2010-09-15T07:50:00.000-07:00

i've just discovered orzo. dudes -- it's awesome! so for a potluck, i decided to make an orzo salad.

for this recipe you'll need:

1 1/2 c. organic whole wheat orzo
1 organic summer squashes
2 cloves organic garlic
1 T. organic extra virgin olive oil
1/2 c. organic peas
1 organic tomato

cook the orzo in boiling water for about 15 minutes or until tender. when done, rinse with cold water and set aside. saute the squashes and peas with the olive oil and garlic for about 5 minutes. chop the tomato.

for the dressing, you'll need:

2 T. organic extra virgin olive oil
1 T. organic seasoned rice vinegar
1 T. organic mustard
1 t. organic fair-trade sugar
1 t. organic dried dill
sea salt and pepper

mix the dressing with the orzo in a bowl and add the sauted squash and peas. top with the chopped tomato.

this is such a great potluck dish because it tastes great at room temp.

happy feasting!

kisses,

ariel

Karina Ups the Stakes for her Cupcakes...

2010-09-08T13:02:00.001-07:00

I got to chatting with owner of our neighborhood market and I mentioned that I baked gourmet cupcakes on the side. Being as generous and friendly as always, he suggested that I bring a batch by to possibly sell them in the cafe. I gladly agreed!

I happened to have some left over lavender in the kitchen, and since it has always been one of signature flavors in my baking, I thought it was only appropriate to utilize it for my first sampling.

I went ahead and took my favorite go-to vegan cake recipe, making it with lavender and fresh ginger, and made a few batches of cupcakes.

For the frosting, I decided to add blueberries and ginger to my lavender-infused powdered sugar (pic above) that I had left sitting overnight.

I added several scoops of softened earth balance, agave, cinnamon, a few shakes of sea salt and a sprinkle of cayenne for some more kick. I would give you exact measurements but I always just improvise until I like the texture and flavor. I threw this all in the food processor so the blueberries and ginger would be well integrated and not chunky.

My only regret here was that I did not sift out the lavender out of the powdered sugar for the frosting. The floral bitterness was almost too intense and I had to add some more agave and powdered sugar to try and mellow it out, which worked well enough. (I find adding whole lavender buds to batter that will be cooked in the oven works out great, but eating them raw in a frosting is a bit too much, even for me.) All in all, I still think this was one of the yummiest flavor combos I have made so far- especially when added to the mouth-watering cupcakes!!!!

Favorite Part always is the decorating. I chopped up fresh figs and got out the candied ginger. I also pulled out the piping tools my mom got me for Christmas and experimented with what designs I could make...

The market owner loved them and put them in the refrigerator to test how long they would last. A week later when I stopped by, we pulled them out and they were still incredibly moist and delicious (minus the fresh fig which we had to take off). He asked me to start bringing by mini-cupcakes in three different flavors to start putting in the display case next week- wish me luck!

ariel's making ...somen rolls

2010-09-08T07:46:00.000-07:00

before our girls' night out, i decided we should all have some tapas. it was friday, which meant the cupboards were pretty empty (saturday is market day!) so i had to get creative. i had some japanese somen noddles, so i thought i'd go for a japanese style spring roll.

besides the somen noddles, i added sauted shitake mushrooms, fresh carrots, romaine lettuce and sugar snaps. it's best to prep all your fillings early, because they wrap up much more easly at room temp than pipping hot! i used a small sized rice paper wrap too, so they were more bite/tapa size.

for dipping, i made a peanut sauce using peanut butter, vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and a little bit of seasame oil.

my girls brought over a bunch of other great tapas, like dolmas, mango salsa, hummus and pita chips -- and we had the most amazing evening out on the town in the castro!

happy rollin' ... rollin' with the hommies!

haha!

kisses,

ariel

ariel's making ... potato salad

2010-09-01T07:15:00.000-07:00

potato salad is such a delish and super simple summer dish. for lunch the other day i made a really yummy version that i think you might like. first i boiled some organic fingerling potatoes and one organic free-range egg, 'til the potatoes were easy to poke with knife.

while they were boiling, i chopped up some fresh green onion and carrots.

then i made a dressing of organic dried dill, organic extra virgin olive oil, organic rice vinegar, organic mustard, a dash of hot sauce, and salt and pepper.

just as the potatoes were finishing up, i added a handful of organic frozen peas to the boiling water, just to defrost them. then i chopped everything up and added the sauce.

so good. i want more!

kisses,

ariel

Karina and Alma Unleash a Quiche!

2010-08-31T15:39:00.000-07:00

My friend Alma and I hadn't had the occasion to cook together for far too long, so we decided to make a decadent brunch. She had the idea to go wild with a quiche, using both sweet and savory ingredients such as apples, eggplant, mint and shallots. I gladly jumped on board and suggested that we take our "breakfast pie" one pie-notch further by making it with a graham cracker crust.

I chopped up a pack of whole-wheat organic graham crackers with some melted Earth Balance in the food processor. I added salt, curry and cinnamon to twist in some flavor.

I coated my baking dish with olive oil and packed in an even, tight layer of graham mix and put it in the oven at 400* for 10 minutes.

We prepared the apples, shallots and mint by chopping them and setting them aside.

Alma began chopping cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, green onions and more mint for an Israeli- style salad to serve on the side.

In a small bowl I mixed 1/2 cup of flour with a teaspoon of salt and teaspoon of baking powder. I added it to the 7 eggs I had cracked in a larger bowl.

I mixed this well with a fork until as smooth and blended as possible.

Alma had been busy sauteing our onion, sweet potato (that we had already boiled to soften), eggplant, zucchini, apple, basil, and mint in light olive oil. She spiced with salt, paprika, cayenne, cumin and lemon.

We spread out our cooked veggie lot evenly over the graham crust and then topped it with the egg batter.

I sprinkled a nice coat of cayenne over the top to give it some nice color.

Alma finished off the salad by adding fresh avocados, olive oil, salt and lemon.

We put the quiche in the already hot oven, turned it down to 350* and cooked it for about 35-40 minutes until it was set up completely and brown around the edges.

We used our leftover sweet potato-veg mix as a side and served up this mouth-watering quiche with a generous serving of salad.

We were both blown away with how well the graham cracker crust worked and couldn't stop eating this quiche all day long!

ariel's ... ogling over chef sam's bread, p.3

2010-08-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

what a beauty!

kisses,

ariel

ariel's making ... carrot and zucchini cake

2010-08-24T05:15:00.000-07:00

for my auntie yam's bday i decided to make her a carrot and zucchini cake. oh so healthy, right?

for this cake, you'll need:

1 c. grated organic carrots
1 grated organic zucchini
1/2 c. organic molasses
1 organic free-range egg
1 stick organic butter, melted
2 T. organic cinnamon
1/4 c. each of organic raisins, organic sunflower seeds and organic shredded coconut
1/2 t. each of baking powder and baking soda
1/2 c. organic fair-trade sugar
1 1/4 c. organic whole wheat flour

mix everything together except the flour. then add the flour to the wet mixture. (it's really that simple!)

pour the thick cake batter into a buttered cast iron pan and bake 350* for about 25 minutes or until it passes the clean toothpick test.

i topped it with some organic fair-trade powdered sugar and two tiny-mini organic carrots when it was all cool, and served it with some straus vanilla ice cream.

there was probably enough cake for about ten people ... but the five of us had no trouble devouring almost the whole thing in one night!

happy baking!

kisses,

ariel

Karina's Greens and Garden Rolls...

2010-08-18T13:38:00.000-07:00

So in my last post, I told of my recent visit to Santa Cruz where I visited my sister Alia's garden. Here's the booty I snuck away with:

And here is what I did with it:

Already I had in my produce drawer an onion, thyme, basil and mushrooms- so I sauteed them up together with some olive oil, braggs, salt and pepper.

I soaked some sunflower seeds and cashews in water for a half hour and then drained them and threw them in the food processor with the mushroom/onion saute.

I added a half of an avocado that I had, a spoonful of tahini, some braggs, lemon juice, agave, curry, cayenne, cinnamon, salt, pepper and cumin. It reached a wonderful texture and taste- thick and almost meaty. Dynamic, deep flavors with both spice and sweetness. YUM! I set this aside.

I cut up the rest of my onion and all my garden produce (zucchini, yellow baby squash, eggplant and Pablano peppers) into long strips like I would use with sushi. I sauteed these in olive oil and lightly spiced.

Simultaneously , I had been steaming the garden kale until cooked yet not completely soft and wilted, and drained it to cool down. I placed it in a large bowl and added fresh lime juice, agave and braggs.

I had scored bag of my sister's cherry plums from her tree, so I cut these up to add to the kale, deciding to make cold salad.

I cut up the fresh squash blossoms we had picked off her squash plants and added them raw.

I added raw sunflower and sesame seeds.

Lastly, I finished with carrots I had and the cucumber from her garden. I set my salad aside once it was tossed in some light olive oil and more lime.

Back to the mushroom/nut "pate"...

I found some nori sheets in my cabinet and quickly decided these where the perfect vessel for my improvised pate.

I spread a thick layer of pate over 3/4 of the nori sheet like I would with rice for sushi.

I lined up stripes of my sauteed veggies in the middle of my spread...

And rolled and sliced the same as sushi.

My roommate Annie and I ate and ate until we could eat no more...

And even though we were beyond full, it felt so light and clean it kept me energized and stoked all day long! I seriously could eat this 5 times a week and not get bored or sick of it!

ariel's making ... cantaloupe sangria

2010-08-18T08:10:00.000-07:00

i love sangria. i lived in spain for six months and i totally fell in love with this sweet, fruity wine drink. you can really use any fruit in it, but i had a fresh cantaloupe, so i decided to us it!

for my sangria i used:

12 organic cantaloupe melon balls
1 bottle of organic wine
2 T. organic fair-trade sugar
juice of 2 organic meyer lemons

mix it all together and add the wine!

serve with ice and enjoy!

as they say in cadiz, spain ... que guay!

kisses,

ariel

Karina learns to "milk" a Cucumber!

2010-08-11T14:54:00.000-07:00

I went down to Santa Cruz this week and visited my sister's garden one last time before she made the big move to a new place. This meant one last raiding of her plentiful, lovely organic garden.

My next post will be feature the killer meal I made with all of her lovely garden gifts, but first I wanted to share this trick Alia taught me to get any bitterness out of fresh cucumbers. To leave them as delicious as possible- you simply MILK them!

First you slice off the top of the cucumber and set it aside. With as much force as you can muster, begin digging your thumbs along the skin of the cucumber, always pushing and twisting towards the open top. Do this for a few minutes.

Next, take the set-aside top, and begin swirling it in small circles against the the open cucumber surface. Do this for several minutes.

Foam will start to form around the edges. This is the bitterness being pulled out!

The longer you do it, the more foam will be drawn out.

Wash off the foam and you're ready dig in to your fresh, non-bitter cucumber!

Thanks, Sis!

ariel's making ... a strawberry ginger galette

2010-08-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

oh strawberries! how i love thee! i usually never get a chance to bake with strawberries (we usually gobble them all up too fast!) but this time i bought 1/2 a flat of them at the farmers' market, so there were actually some still intact when a dinner party came-a-callin'!

for this dessert, you'll need:

a crust ...

1/2 c. each of organic whole wheat flour and organic unbleached white flour
1/2 c. organic corn meal
1/4 c. organic fair-trade sugar
1/2 stick organic butter
1 cup organic ginger tea, chilled

mix all the dry ingredients together, then add the cold butter in small chunks and mix until it's incorporated ... then add your liquid. form it into a ball and then roll it out into a big circle and place on a greased cookie sheet.

on the crust, spread 2 T. of organic jam (i used raspberry) and 1 T. fresh organic grated ginger.

add sliced strawberries (about 1 basket), fold in the edges and top with 1 T. of organic fair-trade sugar.

bake at 350* for about 45 minutes or until golden. serve with cream or ice cream.

elegant ... yet ... sooo easy!

kisses,

ariel

Karina throws a Karnival!

2010-08-05T10:18:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I celebrated my first birthday living in San Francisco. Now I love a theme party, and if there is any city that embraces the spectacle and absurdity of costume and themes parties more than any other, it is definitely San Fran. I decided to do it up full force SF style and bring the Karnival to town. My first inspiration for choosing a carny-themed extravaganza, besides the obvious excuse for bearded ladies and circus music, was the epic popcorn machine that has always sat mysteriously on top of our cabinets but has never actually been used that I know of. (I'm not sure if anyone even knows where it came from....)

From there I planned a Barnum and Bailey worthy menu of peanuts, popcorn, watermelon, mini "sliders", and of course, funnel cake.

For my sliders I decided to pick up some sweet potatoes, onion, mushrooms, black beans, spinach, basil, carrots, and steamed beets.

I cooked up some lentils and brown rice, soaked some cashews, and took out some oats. I boiled the sweet potatoes and sauteed my onions and mushrooms and went to work.

I threw the carrots, sweet potatoes, some basil and garlic in the food processor to begin mixing. I didn't want to mix it so long that it blends all into mush, but just enough to get rid of all the big chunks for when I was ready to start forming my patties. I threw in the beets, beans, and other ingredients one at a time until blended just enough and switched them over to a big mixing bowl.

Spicing time. I played with the above until satisfied.

I continued to add oats and bread crumbs until it was thick enough to form patties that wouldn't stick to my hands.

I let them sit in the refrigerator over night to thicken up as much as possible. When the carny patrons started to arrive, I threw the pan on the stove and cooked them in some light olive oil on high heat until they cooked well on each side. I served them up on delicious slider buns I found at Trader Joes.

Big Little Hits I tell you!

On to the funnel cake:

I prepared the following batter to serve up a larger crowdm but you can obviously cut it in half or thirds for a smaller gathering:

4 cups flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
7 1/2 Tbsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs 4 cups soy milk (or whatever kind you have)
3 tsp vanilla
a few shakes cinnamon
oil, for frying

Mix eggs, soy (or hemp) milk and vanilla. Make sure you are dressed like a madame fortune teller. In separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and mix well. You should have a batter about the same consistency as pancake batter so it will flow easily through the funnel.

With the help of a angry clown, fill a skillet with 1" oil and heat to 375 degrees. I used a candy thermometer.

Cover the funnel hole with your finger and have your clown assistant fill the funnel with about 1/4 cup of batter. I held the funnel over the pan, removed my finger, and began moving the funnel around back and forth, zig-zagging back and forth like juggler on a unicycle . You want the batter to stick together so don't spread it out too much once it hits the pan or you won't be able to flip it in one piece.

Fry the cake 1-2 minutes on each side, turning with a spatula or tongs, until golden brown.

Once out of the oil and onto a paper towel for a cool down, I sprinkled the cakes generously with powdered sugar.

I barely got a taste as they babies went like... hot (funnel) cakes...

Truly, the Greatest (birthday) show on earth....

ariel's making ... coconut chocolate cookies

2010-07-17T17:52:00.000-07:00

cookie consumption is on the rise at my house due to large amounts of studying for thee bar exam ;) but we try to keep it healthy ... well sort of. here's a batch that worked out well, made late one night.

chef sam has been making homemade vanilla extract -- so easy! bottle of cheap booze and some vanilla beans. the hardest part is waiting for it to be ready ...

for these scrumptious cookies, you'll need:

1 stick organic butter
1/2 c. organic brown sugar
1/2 c. organic molasses
1 T. homemade vanilla (if ya got it!)
1 organic egg

mix those together!

then add ...

1 c. organic whole wheat flour
1/2 c. organic shredded coconut
1/2 c. organic fair-trade coco powder
1/2 c. organic sunflower seeds
1/2 c. organic milk
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda

whatever else sounds good -- throw that in too!

bake at 350* for about 5-10 minutes ... you'll know when they're done.

study sweet tooth -- conquered!

happy saturday sweeties!

kisses,

ariel

Karina's Inner Monologue making a Birthday Cake...

2010-07-12T10:15:00.000-07:00

"Karina, will you make my birthday party cake?"

"Yes, yes I will. What flavors do you want?"

"Surprise me, I trust you."

"Done."

Mango, Lime, Basil Cake with Ginger and Cinnamon... I'll make it vegan.

I'll use my favorite go-to vegan cake recipe as a base and add my mango-basil puree. Better use a little less water than it calls for since this is a lot of green liquid.

Wow...good.

Now for frosting. I have earth balance and powdered sugar to start with and I guess I'll mix it with the other half of this mango, basil, lime, and ginger. I think I'll add these dates too. And some more cinnamon. It needs an extra kick...this splash of Jameson I have in the freezer...

(This actually may be the best frosting I've made...)

My favorite garnishes, figs, are back. Gotta use them. These oranges will look good too with some more fresh basil and dates.

This looks kinda alright...

I have to start trying to sell my cakes...

Here, let me arrange the candles for you (hands off my cake.)

Another Happy Birthday for the books.

ariel's making ... broc-cheddar soup

2010-07-11T22:44:00.000-07:00

broccoli and cheese are a prefect combo, and soup made with the two can be just divine!

to make a pot of this cheezy soup, you'll need:

1 organic onion, chopped
4 large organic potatoes, chopped
1 head of organic broc
1/2 c. organic milk
1 bay leaf
1 c. organic cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

this is so simple ... saute the onion in a pot for about 5-10 minutes. add the other veggies and then top with water. add bay leaf and boil until potatoes and broc are tender. blend it all up! put it back in the pot and add milk and salt and pepper.

top with cheese and enjoy!

i could eat another bowl right now.

say cheese!

kisses,

ariel

Karina and friends whip up spicy eggplant pasta!

2010-07-04T11:50:00.000-07:00

When I arrived over at my friend Jen's the other night for a small dinner gathering, she quickly introduced me to the pile of fresh produce on her counter that she wasn't sure what to do with. I was thrilled when she asked me to step in. There was a large eggplant, an apple, onions, garlic, asparagus, a half an avocado and part of a tomato.

She also had a bunch of pasta, so we decided to go that route and immediately started sauteing onions in olive oil and added some garlic and the chopped up eggplant to make the base of a sauce.

I spiced the eggplant mix with salt, pepper, chili flakes, Teriyaki Sauce, sesame seeds, lemon and dried basil, and when it was soft and cooked, I added a little over half of it to the blender where some pine nuts and the leftover avocado and tomato were waiting to mix up a sauce. The blender had a hard time going, so I added a little more olive oil and water to it, and within a minute we had a delicious and creamy thick eggplant sauce. I added more garlic, salt, cayenne and lemon to get the flavor just right.

I returned to the remaining onions, garlic and eggplant in the saute pan, and added the apple and asparagus that Jen had chopped up.

We started boiling vermicelli noodles and later added cooked udon noodles to the mix to make more.

Once the cooking veggies were perfected, I added in our spicy eggplant sauce to get it all nice and warm for the noodles.

Job Well Done. Delicious!

Sometimes you have to be creative when there is a shortage of matching dishes!

ariel's making ... pattypan squash

2010-06-28T19:51:00.000-07:00

snorkel mom and i spent last weekend in santa cruz celebrating bobbi noodle's graduation. bobbi lives next to bill, the farmer, who always hooks us up with awesome veggies to take home. this time, it was a couple of ginormas pattypan squashes. what beauties!

batter frying is so much fun ... it can be done with eggplant, zucs and summer squash.

all you need is an egg wash with a little milk in it and some whole wheat flour. dip the squash into the egg ... then the flour ... and then into a hot pan with about 2 or 3 tablespoons of extra vigin olive oil. fry on medium heat 'til golden brown.

top with ketchup or aoli ... how yummy!

happy frying ... and happy monday ya'll!

kisses,

ariel

Karina's Vegan Lavender Mint Cake with Apricot Mint Frosting!

2010-06-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

Spending hours in the kitchen working on a cake is blissfully therapeutic for me (or maybe its more the tasting along the way and eating of said cake afterward...). Regardless, I was happy for the excuse of a friend's birthday to get it the baking zone again.

I went down to the local Haight St. Market and delighted in the fresh abundance that stone fruit and berry season had to offer! I was immediately drawn to the Organic and ripe Rainer Cherries, apricots, and black- and blueberries. I grabbed a bundle of fresh mint as well, stocked up on the basics of flour and sugar, and headed home to begin my baking party for one.

My friend Alex told me his wife Mel (birthday gal) was a classic vanilla cake connoisseur, but gave me the go ahead to spice it up a bit. I decided to do a vanilla cake infused with subtle mint and lavender, and then make an apricot-mint frosting. I also decided to do it vegan so everyone could join in on the fun.

I crushed up a few tbls of lavender buds and probably 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint as finely as possible and added it to my trusty vegan vanilla cake recipe:

2 cups water
3/4 cups light oil (I used olive)
2 tbl white vinegar
4 tsp vanilla
3-1/2 cups unbleached flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
a few shakes of cinnamon or any other flavors you want to experiment with!

Bake at 350* for about 40 minutes or until cooked through ( I always check mine early to make sure its as moist as possible.)

The frosting was completely improvised. I know if you take earth balance, some type of milk (I used hemp milk), and powdered sugar you will get something resembling frosting. I decided to start flavoring by slicing up three apricots and throwing them into the food processor with the rest of the bundle of mint and a splash of hemp milk to keep it moving.

Then I threw that apricot puree in a large bowl with a few scoops of earth balance, a cup of powdered sugar, agave, cinnamon, and randomly, a few scoops of vanilla coconut milk ice cream I had had the night before.

I used a hand mixer to blend and thicken it up. This was working, but after doing it maybe too long, it started to separate a little. I let it sit in the refrigerator over night, then brought it down to room temp again and put it all in the food processor the next morning with some more powdered sugar and that smoothed it up a lot.

It was still not my ideal consistency, but it tasted so good it didn't matter. I knew that I could use it as a thick glaze that would help "glue" on all of my fresh fruit garnish.

Along with the fruit, I sprinkled some candied ginger crumbs on top.

Thank you summer fruit!

ariel's making ... brick bread

2010-06-21T16:50:00.000-07:00

ok ... so this is no stunning chef sam bread ... but i wanted to make a super dense, all whole wheat loaf of bread ... and in the process invented "brick bread."

my made-on-the-fly recipe used:

1 T. yeast
1 T. organic sugar
2 c. whole wheat organic flour
1 1/2 c. water
1 T. sea salt
1 t. extra virgin organic olive oil

first i soaked the yeast and sugar in some warm water for about 5 minutes to get it going. then i added the rest of the water and flour and salt and mixed. once it formed into a dough, i kneaded it for about 5 minutes. then i set it to rest in a warm spot for about an hour. once it had doubled, punched it down, kneaded it some more and placed it in a bread pan. then i let it rise again for about an hour.

then i baked it at 400* for about 45 minutes ... and ta-da! brick bread ;)

with some jam and butter ... this is the perfect late night, totally healthy, snack!

happy baking!

kisses,

ariel

ariel's harvesting ... sour plums

2010-06-12T21:22:00.000-07:00

the sun is shining this weekend and the fruit on the trees are starting to ripen! how exciting! i wanted to do a post about urban foraging. chef sam and i are big on foraging in the city for fruit. there is a plethora of fruit trees in san francisco and a lot of it goes unpicked. luckily, the foraging trend is catching on and city grown fruit is being properly harvested.

the plum tree in our backyard produces lovely little purple plums, but you have to harvest them on the sour side, because when they get ripe they just fall to the ground and smmmmooosh. i love them sour though ... i even took a bag of them on a picnic with the girls today, and the whole big bag was devoured.

so even though some trees produce smaller fruits, that doesn't mean they don't taste amazing!

oh -- and get yourself a handy fruit picker. they're super fun to use :)

enjoy the sunshine this weekend sweeties!

kisses,

ariel

chef sam's making ... peanut butter granola and fresh soy milk

2010-06-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

this is our 50 lbs. bag of organic oats. yes -- we eat a lot of oats, usually raw (i'll post that soon) but also as homemade granola, in pancakes and all sorts of other great baked goods. it usually takes us about 4-6 months to finish a bag.

chef sam made some amazing peanut butter granola and fresh soy milk, so i documented the process to share with ya'll.

the granola was a mix of oats, sugar, cinnamon, pb, coconut, chopped almonds, sesame seeds and butter -- baked on a cookie sheet in the oven 'til golden brown.

chef sam's mom used to make fresh soy milk when he was a kid and he has fond memories of her giving him hot steaming bowls of it with sugar or with chinese dougnuts.

first he soaked the dry soy beans in water for several hours.

then he blended them all up and strained the mixture throw a cloth.

what a perfect combination! both were very delicious and if you've never had homemade soymilk, you should try it! it's totally different than anything you can get in the store.

ciao for now!

kisses,

ariel

ariel's dad makes ... a puerto rican feast

2010-05-30T16:55:00.000-07:00

i just had to share some photos with you from a feast we had on friday night. in celebration of leenie's graduation, my dad made a huge puerto rican feast ... that was out of this world! the dishes included pollo fricase, habichuelas coloradas and tostones, and my mom made a great salad topped with tons of avocados.

the chef

the only contribution i made to the meal was making a round of fresh mint and meyer lemon mojitos for everyone.

everything was so great that there were hardly any leftovers!

thanks dad for the great eats! que rico!

kisses,

ariel

ariel's making ... a frittata sandwich

2010-05-27T17:22:00.000-07:00

the last few weeks have been insanely busy and i've had very little time to play in the kitchen. but last night chef sam's brother came over for dinner, so chef sam and i threw together a few simple dishes (marinated asparagus, no-knead bread and a chard frittata ...all of which you learn how to make on our recipe page) and ended up having a lovely feast.

today there were still a few leftovers from the previous night, so i decided to make them into a sandwich.

my mom (aka snorkel mom) just got back from her annual trip to kauai. she always comes home with this amazing passion fruit mustard from anuty liliko'i, so i slathered a few spoons of it on chef sam's fluffy bread. then i added the frittata and a few leafs of crispy organic romaine lettuce.

it was the perfect lunch!

hope you're all doing well :)

kisses,

ariel