I initially found this recipe via the epicurious ipad app. It’s from Bon Appetit magazine in a 2002 issue or something and here it is if you’d like to use it. I, however have made a few modifications as I find it to be a little on the “bleh” side as it is.  This latest incarnation is probably the best version I’ve made so I’m happy to have it saved here! It also tastes even more amazing re-heated for lunch the next day.

This is how I made it…MY WAY…. (enjoy the mood music)

My recipe below:

Curried Lentil Stew with Ginger Yogurt
(From epicurious/Bon Appetit magazine 2002, but with modifications by me)

1 tbsp or so olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves (or more! I love garlic), finely chopped
1 & 1/2 tablespoons garam masala (or curry powder if that’s what you have on hand)
Pinch of salt (to taste)
2 & 1/2 -3 cups vegetable broth (eyeball it – depends on how runny/soupy you like it)
I can of lentils
1 & 1/4 cups canned diced tomatoes – i gave mine a brief whiz in the mini chopper this time as well to break up the larger chunks.
1/2 can of coconut milk (once again, eyeball it – you can use more or less depending on your taste)
Whatever vegetables you have on hand. In the above photo I used 3 big handfuls of raw spinach, about a cup of zucchini and some sliced mushrooms.
Cilantro for garnish

Topping:
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt (I like to use FF greek yogurt the best but regular plain is fine too. If you want this to be vegan, leave this out or use a suitable vegan substitution).
Fresh ginger, grated, to taste (see pro tip).
PRO TIP: Always put your fresh ginger root in the freezer! Then when you need it for something, simply take it out and grate it with a microplane/zester (one of my fav kitchen thingies ever) or a cheese grater with small holes.

Sautee your onions in the olive oil in a big pot for about 5 mins or so. Add in your garlic and then the garam masala/curry powder and the pinch of salt. Next throw in your veggie broth, the canned lentils, and your diced tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce and let simmer until some of the liquid has been absorbed. Add in your zucchini and mushrooms, and then swirl in the coconut milk. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary. When you are almost ready to serve it, add in your fresh spinach and let it wilt.
Just before plating, stir the grated ginger into your plain yogurt. Plate your stew and top with the yogurt and some fresh cilantro.  Put the leftover ginger yogurt on the table so people can serve themselves – this stew can be spicy depending on your garam masala and the yogurt goes a long way to cool things down!

I’m nearly 23 weeks along now and…it’s going. Health-wise, everything has been great so far. I was a little nauseous in the first trimester but I did not let that stop me from going on the most epic voyage of my entire life – to Antarctica!

I was supremely fortunate enough to go on this trip for work in Feb 2013 with my husband. We got to go to Chile as well (we flew to Antarctica from Punta Arenas, Chile) and spent a few days in Santiago, Chile. All in all it was probably one of the most amazing experiences of my entire life and there are no words to describe how grateful I am that I still got to go, despite being “in the family way” (a bit nerve-wracking when you are LITERALLY not even remotely close to a hospital in case of emergency!).

Here I am at Neko Harbour with a bunch of Gentoo penguins! Neko Harbour was my favourite landing on the entire trip. It was the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my life. We climbed up very very high and looked down over the water, icebergs and calving glaciers and it was just…amazing. The mister and I took a lot of video during the voyage and in almost every clip you can hear me saying “WOW!” in the voice of a 4 year old…it was just..magical. If you ever ever get the chance to go, GO. Save your money, it is 100% worth it.

Dear Baby: this was your first vacation. Pretty cool huh?

Chile was also pretty great, especially because it was full summer there and the temperature was around 35C every day. We left Toronto in the depths of a horrible blizzard (it was warmer in Antarctica than it was in Toronto!) so that summer weather in Chile was most welcome. We rented an airbnb apartment in Santiago and walked our butts off – I wore out a brand new pair of shoes.

My favourite part was the day we climbed Cerro San Cristobal . It was SUPER hot out but the views were totally worth it. There is a Catholic sanctuary at the top with a huge statue of the virgin mary which can be viewed from all over the city. I’m not religious at all but I lit a candle for my mom (she passed in 2004) there amongst the candles and mementos left for other departed loved ones. It was very peaceful.  On the long, sweaty hike back down we stopped at Piscina Tupahue – a huge public swimming pool about halfway up the hill with incredible views. It was just a perfect day.

Back to the whole pregnancy thing. As I mentioned, health-wise all is well! I feel ok, all of my tests have come back with good results and the baby is kicking like Rick James on Charlie Murphy’s couch.

Mentally, I’m finding it a bit rough. I had NO idea what kind of a toll this would take on my self-esteem. I weigh more than I ever have in my entire life and I’ve had to cut back on all of my physical activity because it really wears me out. I go to the gym about 3 days a week and I’m in a prenatal yoga class, but I don’t work as hard as I used to (my dr said to go at about 80% effort instead of 100%) and I don’t run much anymore which makes me so, so sad. (I DID sign up for the Toronto date of Color Me Rad – warning,annoying auto-play video - on a team with some of my co-workers which is exciting but also scary. I’ll be 7.5 months along by then so I’ll probably have to waddle the whole thing.) I guess feeling like that is normal though..right? RIGHT?!

If there is one thing I do marvel at, it’s how people seem to think they can say ANYTHING to me now and it’s fine. Comment on my weight, food I ate, coffee, physical activity, sleep, etc. WOW, really people? REALLY?! It makes me make this face:

Someone just sent me this link: Things Not To Say To A Pregnant Woman – and all I can say is THIS IS SO TRUE. Please, if you happen to be friends with/married to/related to/etc. a preggo right now, read this and take notes. I know it’s easy to roll your eyes and be all “pfft…these aren’t that bad” but when you are full of RAGING hormones and feel like utter crap about yourself, these things can really sting and/or cause extreme internal rage!  I could add a few things to this list but then I’d be getting too specific about things that have been said to me personally, so mums the word.

All in all I am happy to so far have what seems to be a healthy little butt kicker gestating inside me. The future should be interesting!

I have another entry (a recipe!) to write while I have time on my lunch break so I better get crackin!

After pickling our peppers and making a giant marinated kale salad (my favourite side dish) and some kale chips, we decided to use the rest of our veggie haul and make a roasted tomato soup.  We pretty much played it by ear but it turned out absolutely delicious. We served it with a slice of baguette topped with broiled extra old white cheddar for dipping -the perfect  comfort food dinner for a sunny Sunday in late October. I will be making this again, very soon!

Roasted Tomato Soup

Roasted tomato, red pepper and garlic soup
(Makes about 6-8 serving)

Ingredients:
Approx. 3 lbs tomatoes
1 carton of vegetable broth (or make your own)
1 tbsp olive oil
sea salt
balsamic vinegar
butter (approx 1 tbsp) – or vegan substitute
1 red pepper (or two if you want more of a red pepper taste in your soup)
garlic cloves (as many as you want)
2 shallots
fresh thyme and basil (ours was from our balcony garden but in a pinch you could use dried).

Pre-heat the oven to 400F
Cut all of your tomatoes in half and lay on a baking sheet, do the same with the red pepper (we cut it up in smaller pieces).
Peel a few cloves of garlic and add them to the baking sheet, whole.
Drizzle everything with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Splash on some balsamic as well, then throw some torn up basil and fresh thyme on top.
Roast in the oven for about an hour.

Just before you remove the tomatoes,pepper and garlic from the oven, cut up your shallots. Add your butter to a large soup pot and let melt. Add in your shallots and soften. Then add in the roasted tomatoes, pepper and garlic.  Pour in your vegetable stock and crush up your tomatoes a little with a wooden spoon. Add in some more fresh basil and thyme.

Use an immersion blender to blend everything to desired consistency, then bring to a boil. Turn heat down and let simmer for a while. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve topped with some chopped chives (if you want) and enjoy!

On an unrelated note, we just got back from our first ever trip to NYC which happened to get extended during Hurricane Sandy aftermath. Instead of the 4 day long weekend we’d planned, we were there for 6! Now there are obviously worse places in the world one could be trapped but by the end of the trip we were definitely ready to go home! Anyway, we ate our FACES off in NYC. I couldn’t believe how much great food the city has to offer – and I took pics of almost every single meal I ate! Stay tuned for a post about “What I ate on my NYC vacation” sooner than later.

One of our annual summer traditions is to rent a cottage up on Mackenzie lake, just outside of Maynooth, Ontario. We spend a few days swimming, sunning, drinking, watching scary movies by the wood stove at night and of course, cooking large elaborate meals. I look forward to it every year and am always sad when we leave.

I’m feeling a little melancholy about this so today I’m posting a summer recipe we made for breakfast at the cottage last month.

Now, Canadians who don’t have winterized cottages tend to go up til at least Thanksgiving weekend so I think this cottage breakfast is still relevant. Think of it as the last supper for your summer cottage season. It’s not a healthy meal by any means but it’s the taste of waking up early on a summer morning at the cottage, looking out over the quiet lake with a mug of coffee and the smell of bacon in the air. This was a bit more time consuming to make than I’d imagined but it was totally worth it. This won’t be the last time I make it, that’s for sure.

Mackenzie Lake Cottage Breakfast:
serves 4 very filling portions

Recipe from one of my favourite food inspiration tumblrs: snacks snacks snacks

Ingredients:

1 package bacon (not peameal bacon), diced
1/2 small bag of fingerling potatoes, blanched + smashed
5 cloves of garlic, peeled and then smashed
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1 bunch spinach, rinsed and torn up
1/2 cup shredded extra old white cheddar
4 eggs
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
First, boil your fingerlings until you can stick them with a fork. Drain and place on a flat surface, smash with the bottom of your skillet. This can get a bit messy. Smash your garlic as well and set aside.  In a heavy-duty skillet or frying pan, cook the bacon until crispy. Remove and let drain on a paper towel covered plate. We drained off a little of the bacon fat from the skillet at this point as it seemed like there was A LOT.  Then add your smashed potatoes into the skillet and remaining bacon fat and fry until crispy. Add in your smashed garlic, your fresh thyme and tomatoes and fry until the tomatoes start to blister and burst. Add in your spinach and wilt, then add the cooked bacon back in. Next create 4 wells in the whole mess and crack an egg into each one. Place a lid on top so your eggs cook evenly (we liked ours runny…trust me on this). When your eggs are cooked to your liking, top with the shredded chees and let it melt. Serve hot on your cottage deck with the sunrise and lake as your back drop. Somehow this makes it taste even better.

If you’re done it right, egg yolks should break and run through everything and tie the whole thing together beautifully. This was so so good.

PRO TIP: Your skillet/frying pan will be very very messy. My advice is to let that bad boy soak for a while.

After that there was no way I was going to cook anything, and the mister was already collapsed in an overheated heap in the living room. We wanted to just make something quick and easy so we grabbed a bunch of vegetables and fresh herbs from our garden, threw em into the blender and voila! Gazpacho!

“What’s that?” you may ask. Why, it’s tomato soup, served ice cold! Doesn’t that sound great?

In all seriousness, I assure you it is the perfect dinner for a hot, muggy summer night. The stove does not get turned on once, and everything in it is raw – so it’s quite healthy! Also vegan if you use a vegan Worcestershire sauce. You’ll need a decent blender for this. I suppose a hand blender would also work but you might end up looking like an extra from a horror film. Easy-peasy recipe below:

“Gazpacho? Go back to Russia!”

“It’s too damn hot to cook” Gazpacho:
(serves 2 big dinner portions with about 1.5 cups leftover for lunch the next day)

Ingredients:

Approx 3 – 3.5 cups tomatoes (can be cherry or hot house, the more flavourful the better), chopped up
1/2 a seedless cucumber, chopped up
2 stalks of celery, chopped up smallish (just so it’s easier on your blender!)
1/2 a medium yellow or red pepper, seeded and chopped up
1/2 red onion, chopped up
2 cloves of garlic, minced up a bit so you don’t get a hunk of raw garlic in your soup – that would be unpleasant.
Handful of whatever fresh herbs you have (we used basil, parsley, and chives), chopped up a little. Reserve a few of the basil leaves whole for garnish.
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce (or vegan substitute)
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
Pinch or so of sea salt (to taste)
A few grinds of fresh black pepper (to taste)
A few shakes of your favourite hot sauce (we used Louisiana’s finest, Crystal sauce, because I love it and hoard bottles of it because we can’t get it in Canada – want to send me some?!). Plus a few more shakes to finish each bowl if you are so inclined.

We don’t own the most amazing blender so I did everything in batches but if you are lucky enough to own one of those vitamix things, just chuck everything in at once!

If not, throw tomatoes into blender and pulse. Then add in cucumbers and celery, pulse, then the rest of the ingredients and pulse until at desired consistency. We wanted ours to be fairly smooth but you could definitely leave out a few of the vegetables until the very end, chop them up fine and throw them in for some texture. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.  Ideally you would chill the soup for a while before serving but hey, we were hungry. Ladle into bowls and shake a few drops of hot sauce on top if desired. (We also added in a spoonful of Mr.Spinner’s Kale and Hemp seed pesto that we had in the fridge but it’s still delicious without any added extras). Garnish with reserved basil leaves and serve with some crusty bread for dipping. You’ll be surprised at how filling this is!

Make this for dinner and you WILL win friends with salad!

I cannot ever resist an opportunity to quote from The Simpsons.

It also:

1. Makes me desperately crave bacon and pancakes

2.) Makes me very glad I didn’t have to clean that mess up.

Enjoy!

Reblogged from Biff Bam Pop!:

In the meantime, here’s little lunch post to ease my guilty, non-blog-updating conscience.

My old office was down on the waterfront – basically in the middle of nowhere so our lunch choices were rather limited. My new office is uptown and close to a billion amazing lunch spots. This is KILLING my wallet! I’ve managed to get myself back to bringing lunch at least 4 days a week but it is HARD with such delicious options near by! Thus, I’ve been poking around the ol’ internets for some lunchspiration. Recently I re-discovered a blog I used to follow SherylYvette.com and while browsing for recipes on her site I came across her Super Salad recipe.  I knew I had some of that stuff in the fridge so yesterday I threw together my own variation…it was delish. Here is photo evidence:

This salad is so good I heard angels singing when I opened the container.

Now obviously you don’t really need a recipe for salad so I’ll just tell you what was in mine (in the above picture). I packed it for lunch so it had to be layered into the bowl in a specific order so it wouldn’t get all soggy and gross before I had the chance to eat it.  Here’s what I had in there, in order from the bottom to top of the container:

• chickpeas (about 3/4 cup)
• diced apple (1/4 cup)
• diced radishes (2)
• diced cucumber (1/4 cup approx)
• diced red bell pepper (1/4 cup)
• snow peas in pods, sliced in half (handful)
• chopped romaine lettice (1 cup)
• mixed baby kale(1/2 cup)
• diced avocado (1/4)
• onion sprouts

The key is the salad dressing which I blatantly stole from SherylYvette’s entry here and it is delicious: 1 tsp sesame oil, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp of rice vinegar, and a pinch of salt. I put mine in a ziplock baggie and laid it across the top of the salad before putting the lid on the container. Then at lunch i dump it on, replace lid, shake it all up, commence eating.

So yeah, just salad! Nothing too exciting today but hey, it’s an update, right?

]]> http://corinacorona.wordpress.com/2012/04/12/salad-yup-i-said-salad/feed/ 0 Salad corinacorona Super Salad http://corinacorona.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/saturday-at-the-movies-pee-wees-big-adventure/ http://corinacorona.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/saturday-at-the-movies-pee-wees-big-adventure/#comments Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:56:04 +0000 corinacorona http://corinacorona.wordpress.com/?p=290 ]]> I’ve been way busy and have a new adventure starting soon (more on that later) but in the mean time, check out my post on one of my FAVOURITE movies of all time over at Biff Bam Pop!:

Saturday At The Movies: Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.

We HAVE a had a few icy days though and on one such day, I happened to have booked off from work and was wasting the hours lying around in my pjs.  I wanted to take advantage of the fact that I had the day off to make something decent for dinner – but we didn’t have a tonne of groceries and there was no way I was going to the store, and so I had to settle for what we had in the condo.

We’d bought a butternut squash a few weeks prior and it was still sitting around so I decided that it would be the perfect day to make some soup!  I went through a few of our cookbooks looking for an appealing recipe and finally settled on the Butternut-Apple Soup from Appetite For Reduction.  I have an aversion to overly sweet soups though so I adapted it to suit my palate a bit more and spiced it up with a fiery jerk spice mix. I also cut the apple juice back a bit and used more vegetable broth.

Jerk Spiced Roasted Butternut-Apple Soup
(adapted from Appetite For Reduction)

This made approximately 7 servings.

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 medium-sized onion, diced small
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons dried rosemary
1tablespoon dry jerk spice
1/2 teaspoon salt (I used a fancy pacific smoked salt I had but obviously any will do)
1 medium-sized butternut squash, seeded and cut into hunks (You can peel first of you want to but I am lazy so I roasted first and then peeled)
3 apples peeled, cored and cut into chunks
1.5 cups apple juice
2.5 cups vegetable broth
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice

Optional garnish: Handful of roughly chopped cilantro, 1 diced green onion, 1 tbsp plain non-fat greek yogurt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F. Place squash hunks in a pan, brush with 1 tbsp or so olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for approximatley 30-40 mins, or until soft. Now this step is important: ALLOW TO COOL before scooping out the flesh. I did not do this and I BURNED THE HELL out of my fingers. OUCH! Set aside your roasted squash and toss out the peel.

Preheat a large pot over medium heat. Sauté the onions in the oil for 5 to 7 minutes, until translucent.

Mix up a spice blend of the jerk seasoning, ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes, rosemary and salt, and add to the pot. Sauté for a minute more. Add the squash, apples, apple juice and broth. Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower the heat just a bit and simmer briskly for about 20 more minutes.

Puree the soup using either an immersion blender or by transferring half the soup at a time to a food processor or blender in batches. If using a blender, be sure to let the steam escape so that it doesn’t build up in the blender.

Add the lime juice and season to taste.

When we went to serve this, I garnished with a few chopped up green onions (or scallions as you Americans say), and some roughly chopped cilantro. I also swirled in a tablespoon of non-fat, plain greek yogurt to cool down the heat of the jerk spices (although obviously this makes it non-vegan. I’m sure a good vegan yogurt substitute would work as well).

Verdict:  Nice and spicy without being too sweet. A great icy winter night dinner. I froze the leftovers in lunch-sized containers and now I have a quick lunch for those days I am running late.