green food

A great green pint in the morning is the perfect hangover cure. Just throw an orange, fresh ginger, and some kale into a high powered blender and you'll feel good as new. Tip: freeze your washed kale in airtight plastic bags so that you can have it handy in the morning.

We visited Social Place recently and loved their modern take on traditional Chinese cuisine. The knife work on this Chinese Kale (gai lan) is beautiful.

Amazing how they made these mushroom stuffed buns actually look like mushrooms.

And at Isoya, their specialty is Japanese vegetarian cuisine. Very creative how they made sushi out of bell peppers, asparagus, mushrooms and sweet potato. 

Making your own salsas and guacamole doesn't get any greener and fresher than this.

Pico de gallo

makes about 3 cups

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups diced cherry or grape tomatoes

1/2 white onion, finely chopped

2-3 jalapeno peppers, coarsely chopped (mild = no seeds, med = 1/2 seeds, spicy = all seeds)

3/4 cups cilantro, finely chopped

juice of 2 limes (Thai or Mexican)

salt and pepper

METHOD:

1. Combine all the vegetables together in a non-reactive bowl (set aside 1/4 cup for guacamole if making).

2. Mix in lime juice and season as desired. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-4 hours before serving

---

Salsa Verde

makes about 1 cup

INGREDIENTS:

5-6 tomatillos (fresh or canned)

1/2 white onion

1-2 jalapeno peppers

1 cup cilantro

juice of 1 lime (Thai or Mexican)

salt and pepper

METHOD: 

1. Pulse everything together in a hand blender or food processor.

2. Pour into a non-reactive bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Season as desired. Refrigerate for 1-4 hours before serving.

Guacamole
makes about 2 cups

INGREDIENTS:
2-3 ripe avocados (Hass variety preferred)
1/4 cup pico de gallo (vegetables only)
1 clove garlic, finely minced
juice of 2-3 limes (Thai or Mexican)
salt and pepper

METHOD:
1. Scoop out avocados and combine all the ingredients in a non-reactive bowl. 

2. Use a fork and knife in a crisscross cutting motion to coarsely mix together until combined. 

3. Season as desired. Cover with plastic wrap, making sure there are no air pockets. This will ensure your guac doesn't go brown. Chill for 1 hour before serving.

Serve your salsas and guac with tortilla chips or as condiments to your favourite Mexican dishes.

a barrel of fun

Chocolate Candy Torte

makes one 6 inch round layer cake plus 12 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS:

Celebration Cake

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

9 Kit Kat bars

2 cups M&M's

12 mini macarons

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 350F (177C). Prepare a muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners. Grease and line two round 6 inch cake pans.

2. Follow the Celebration Cake recipe and fill cupcake liners and cake pans with batter. 

3. Bake cupcakes for 10-12 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

4. Bake cakes for 30-40 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

5. Prepare chocolate buttercream and frost cupcakes as desired. Decorate with macarons.

6. Split the Kit Kat bars in half so that you have 18 pieces.

7. Use remaining buttercream to frost the cake layers together. Spread buttercream up the sides and on top of the cake. Vertically press the Kit Kat bars along the side of cake. You may have extra bars leftover depending on how much buttercream there is on the cake. Fill the top of the cake with M&M's. Chill the cake for 1 hour to allow decorations to set.

8. Once the cake is set, tie a ribbon around the cake for presentation (optional). Allow the cake to come to room temperature before serving.