Tag Archives: chef tal ronnen

Even Artichokes Have Hearts

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Awhile back I was contacted to review a new ProBar product. Have you all ever heard of their fruition bars? These bars aren’t a whole meal replacement bar like the original ProBars, but they make a perfect little snack.

fruition!

Peach – The first flavor I tasted on my tongue was the peach. M’mm good!

Blueberry - I love blueberries! And this reminded me of a chewy version of a blueberry muffin.

Cran-Raspberry – This bar was slightly tart from the cranberries but it was still sweet as well.

Strawberry – This one was my favorite! It kind of reminded me Nutri-grain bar but without the weird slimy filling – it was actually way better!

Moreover, you could tell these bars were made with real fruits and not artificial flavoring. All of these bars had a yummy chewy texture and they didn’t crumble everywhere. I loved that! The chewiness meant that the goodness just lasted a little longer.

Strawberry was my favorite!

Here is some more information from their website:

-Two servings of fruit in every bar-

-Snack Size: 160 calories per bar-

-4 grams of fiber, 2 grams of fat-

-Certified Organic by QAI-

-Dense with antioxidants and Omegas from Chia Seeds-


Another Chef Tal Ronnen recipe... Hmm what could it be?

Grilled artichoke with Caesar dressing

Why hello there!

The Caesar dressing was so easy to make and incredibly delicious! I think a lot of the flavor came from the addition of capers. Eating the artichoke was so much fun! It’s about as time consuming as eating a pomegranate. And what’s that on the other plate? Well I decided to make something from another great cookbook of mine – The Accidental Vegetarian.

Pumpkin Enchiladas with Mole sauce

The recipe is actually available online over here. Let me tell you though… grinding up the chillies, coriander seeds, sesame seeds, almonds, peppercorns and cloves emitted this heavenly smell. This was such a great lunch. I felt like some eccentric foodie having a delicious lunch for one. Maybe I am?

Breakfast time!

I tried another Udi’s granola out this morning. Sorry Liz, I didn’t go with your pick but I will tomorrow because I found something today that’ll go along perfectly with the cranberry flavor. Okay so what flavor was I just so eager to try this morning? I tried the Hawaiian flavor “with ginger-toasted macadamias, pineapple, and coconut, you can feel the warm sunshine in each bite.” I had it over vanilla yogurt + banana + and drizzled with rich and creamy coconut milk. This was the bomb.com! Oh my gosh biting into pineapple and coconut bits THEN toasted macadamias. Iar just now realized that they were ginger-toasted! This made me think of my girl, Maya over in Hawaii. By the way she recently completed an amazing marathon!

I went to Target and I FINALLY found this holiday flavors.

I’ve seen them on some of your blogs and I wouldn’t have known about these if it weren’t for you guys! I was so happy and I carried them all in my arms like a baby to the cashier.

Not your average PB&J

So remember how I said that Sunland’s Dark Chocolate Peanut butter was lacking in the peanut flavor? Well I must’ve not had a big enough spoonful because today I made a sandwich and scooped on 2 gigantic spoonfuls of this stuff on some toast. Then I microwaved it to get it a bit gooey. I licked the spoon clean and my tastebuds were awakened! What was I thinking the other day? This was so good. I decided to extend chocolate-covered day over into today and I spread some of the strawberry jam Holly had sent to me on the other slice of toast. This was like having a chocolate-covered strawberry sandwich + peanut butter! Can I get a witness?

I also tried the Sugar Cookie yogurt.

It really just tasted like vanilla yogurt though. Meh. But the other flavors actually sound better so I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

Also, since it’s the season of giving I thought I’d mention that Holly has been trying to raise money to build a well for a village in Cambodia. I’m so glad that my belief that people are good is confirmed everyday and we are so blessed! You can check out the  charity over here. The goal is almost reached! So if you can help out in anyway, even just spreading the word – because you never know who can stumble upon this – will help!

To go along with my last post I found a link that I hope all will enjoy! So check it out - Recipe Inspiration. I hope you all make the most of your weekend be it relaxing to the max or partying it up day and night! Just remember John Lennon’s words, “time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.”

What I Get Out of Cooking

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The obvious is that I get to taste delicious food, but cooking means more to me than that. It has become something therapeutic for me and draws out many metaphors about life. I cook with spices and seasonings and I think about the different flavors that foods offer. Much like my motto for life: it shouldn’t be bland! Moreover, cooking is time I take out of my day for me – to do something I want and like to do. I think it’s important for people to incorporate “me time” in to their daily lives. You are wonderful, so why not? Cooking also has it’s financial advantages, but that’s not really my motivator. While grinding mustard seeds to a powder I started thinking. I realized that cooking has helped me get this sense of independence. Knowing that I am able to make so many things by myself and constantly learning new things is precious to me. Making things out of scratch – “hey I made that!” It’s the simple satisfaction I get after I put the fork and knife down when I’m done eating a delectable meal.

So let’s the put the fork and knife down and look at some things I’ve recently put together.

That's a wrap! Not really because we're just getting started.

I stuffed it with a readymade chickpea dish from the Indian store and my leftover spiced parsnip and carrot puree + coconut oil.

Nighttime = snacktime

I noticed a pear in the fruit basket that was definitely ready to be eaten. I decided to make a pear sauce with cinnamon, amaretto, and sugar. I crumbled some honey grahams on top and warmed it up. Then I remembered Jessica’s favorite nighttime snack and I put white chocolate chips on for the final touch. I love using amaretto to make sweet things!

My breakfast is smiling at you!

And I definitely smiled back! I spread Sunland banana peanut butter on one slice of my English muffin and dark chocolate peanut butter on the other. Oh my goodness I absolutely loved the banana peanut butter. It was such a wonderful sweet spread. The dark chocolate one was good but not quite what I expected. I couldn’t really taste the peanuts in it – it reminded me of Nutella actually. Which is fine by me! If you go to Sunland’s website you can see all the other peanut butters they have. There are so many intriguing flavors like sweet molasses, Thai ginger and red pepper, vanilla cranberry, and onion parsley!

Top with banana slices, naturally!

Cookbook review!

Awhile ago I had a cookbook by Chef Tal Ronnen sent to me. Actually, one of my Thanksgiving recipes is one of Chef Tal’s creations (not from the book though). Anyway, this book is bursting with colorful, fresh dishes and all of it is vegan. I loved reading all the stories, tips, recipes, and they even have an upscale vegan restaurant guide. One of the restaurants happens to be in my very backyard (and they serve incredibly delicious food). Anyway, this book also includes a cashew cream that is used in a lot of recipes. I loved seeing how versatile certain foods can be and how creative one can get with cooking. One thing that stuck out to me the most was in the foreword: “When I crossed over to vegetarianism as a teenager, I didn’t abandon my taste buds. I took them with me. In fact, I took them further.” That’s exactly how I feel! Even if you’re not vegan, I’m sure these recipes will get your mouth-watering with the pictures alone. In fact, both my parents browsed through the cookbook and constantly oohed and aahed.

The first recipe I tried from the book...

This was my first time using daikon radish - it's much milder than the Cherry Belle radish.

Vietnamese-style tofu hero and Asian slaw

It's time for your close-up!

This was so good (loved the Asian slaw) and tasted very different from what I usually have. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever tried Vietnamese food. I believe this counts as a food adventure!

Next up...

I got some sweet basil from our backyard.

We also have Thai basil!

Heirloom tomatoes are so beautiful.

They remind me of watercolors.

Voila!

Oh my goodness! Crisping capers in olive oil is amazing. I highly recommend doing this! They gave this simple dish a satisfying salty and delicious crunch!

A great and colorful dinner in my book!

Later on I made a smoothie.

One of my friends from Brazil said that she never understood why people put avocados in salads because in Brazil they eat the avocado as a fruit – with sugar or in a smoothie! Technically it is a fruit! It’s also nicknamed a butter pear – so fitting! I found this so intriguing and I immediately started to concoct smoothie recipes in my head. So in this smoothie I blended together some ice cubes, 2 cups vanilla soy milk, a large banana, half an avocado, and 2 large dates. I usually never measure things out (except when I bake) but with smoothies I find it helpful to measure out the liquid part. This was enough for 3-4 servings. You must try this! It’s so easy and so delicious.

I'm becoming a granola girl!

The folks over at Udi’s Granola sent me an incredible package of their granolas to try out. Every flavor sounds delicious and today I opened the Vanilla granola. I had it with raspberries, Bekah’s “scented” almonds, vanilla yogurt, and crumbled Newman’s Own Organics chocolate chocolate chip cookies. I approve! This granola was like it was just made! No chunks because once their granola is done baking they massage it by hand to break it up. Moreover, they also hand-mix in the dried fruit if the recipe calls for it. Check out more of their flavors here! Which flavor should I try out next? I can’t decide!

Anywho, you know what’s funny? Remember over the summer I was on a mission to find the elusive kabocha? I checked everywhere and I finally found one at an out-of-the-way Asian market. Now the other day I went to Whole Foods and what did I see? About 20 kabochas right in front of my face. Either they’ve been reading blogs or it’s just a happy coincidence! I hope you all have a fantastic Thursday. Before you know it the weekend will be right at your doorstep!

p.s. If that wasn’t enough eye candy for you, here are some more pictures from Art Basel.

Go baby go!

"DESIRE"

This looks like it was made with felt but it's as hard as a rock!

These neon lights were funny!

Every once in awhile something would subtly move and make a whimsical noise

Suspended and cast in bronze playing frisbee!

p.s.s. Check out Maggie’s vegan Bountiful Cookies giveaway. Remember those cookies with intention? Remember how much I loved them? Go check this giveaway out!