Homemade Gnocchi
for BCLiving
May 03, 2021
 
I started making gnocchi about a year and a half ago. It’s a great Sunday afternoon activity as it’s a bit of work, but oh-so worth it. Usually, you find gnocchi on the store shelf in a sealed plastic package and it’s gummy and just doesn’t satisfy the itch. 
 
When you make it from scratch, you can roll them in bulk and freeze them, so you have some fresh ones for dinner that night, and then the next time you want it, just pull the bag out of the freezer and toss some handfuls in the pot. 
 
The soak up the sauce they’re in so well, be it pesto, alfredo, or – my mom even says she makes them into a mac-and-cheese. Um, yum. 
 
Makes about 60 Gnocchi (depending on the size you make them) 
You can double this but mix in separate batches of the following. 

 
INGREDIENTS: 
- about 4 to 4 1/2 cups riced potato 
- 1 tsp, or a bit more salt 
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (more on hand) 
- 2.5 cups all-purpose flour (make sure you get high quality flour) 
 

INSTRUCTIONS: 
 
Scrub and then pierce the potatoes a few times with a fork and bake either covered in foil or uncovered in the oven at 425 degrees, for at least 45mins, checking to see if they are done by piercing with a knife or fork. This should be easily done, or else they need more time.  

Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, rice them.  
Usually if you’re using a ricer, there’s no need to peel, as it remains behind (like magic), if you’re mashing with a fork or masher, remove the peel.  
 
Try not to over mash them as they will get gummy – but aim for no lumps – or else you’ll feel them in the gnocchi and they won’t blend. 
Place the riced potatoes in a large bowl, and then add the flour, salt and olive oil. 
 
Using your hands squeeze everything together until it makes a ball. If it’s too dry, it might need a bit more olive oil, and if it’s too sticky, give it a bit more flour. 
 
Keep the dough covered with either a clean tea towel, or plastic wrap while you form the dumplings. 
 
You’ll need about 1 to 2 tsp of the dough, rolled into a ball in your hands, and then roll it into an oblong shape. 
The pattern that lots of gnocchi has can be achieved by rolling it down the backside of a fork, or buying a special board for them (they’re in expensive and save time and effort. 
You don’t HAVE to do this step, but the ridges will help capture whatever sauce the gnocchi go into. 
Plus, it’s prettier. 
 
Place the gnocchi on a flat surface and keep it covered in the fridge as you go.  
Because you’re making such a big batch, it’s a great idea to freeze some of it while you’re going through this effort. 
To do so place them, separated, on a lined baking sheet flat for at least a few hours in the freezer, and then toss into an air tight container or baggie. 
 
To cook it, place a pot with heavily salted water on the stove and bring to a boil, and then tossing the gnocchi in in batches. It’s done after about a minute of it floating to the top (whole process takes about 5 minutes). For the frozen gnocchi, it may take slightly longer to cook. 
 
Toss in your favourite sauce. I may even try making a gnocchi pizza soon.
ENJOY! 

Jackfruit Carnitas
for Environment 911
April 09, 2021

I’ve been trying out putting jackfruit in tacos for a while now, and have been slowly tweaking the recipes. For this one, I wanted to go more of a crispy carnitas style, instead of the ‘pulled-pork’ type style I usually make, and kick up the spice. 
 
I find that jackfruit holds spice and marinade so well, and while real carnitas take a lot longer to sit and cook, jackfruit you can toss in sprinkle with spice and you’re good!  
 
Top these in tacos however you’d like - I used coleslaw and vegan lime crema. But you don’t even need to make them into tacos. The next time I do it, I’m going to throw them in a salad, and maybe make a breakfast burrito! 
 

Makes Approx. 2 Cups 
 
INGREDIENTS: 
 
- approx. 400g of jackfruit (in water) - drained and pressed 
- 2 tbsp olive oil 
- 4 large cloves of garlic, minced 
- 1 large shallot or small red onion – finely chopped 
- 1 tablespoon chipotle powder  
- 2 teaspoons cumin  
- 1 teaspoon pepper  
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt 
- 1 teaspoon chili powder  
- 1 tsp oregano 
- 1 tbsp of Braggs liquid amino (or low sodium soy sauce) 
- ½ tsp brown sugar 
 
 
INSTRUCTIONS: 
 
Cut and breakdown the jackfruit as much as possible. There are a few tough parts that usually need to be chopped. Depending on the brand, some jackfruit may be wetter than others, so you can press it the way you would with tofu. 
 
Mix the brown sugar, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper, chilli powder and oregano in a small bowl together. 
 
In a cast iron pan (or other large skillet), heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil over medium heat. 
 
Sauté the onion or shallot for 2 minutes, before adding the minced garlic, until onions are soft and garlic is fragrant.  
 
Add the jackfruit and the Braggs/soy, and stir to mix with the onion and garlic. Continue to cook for a few minutes to make sure any extra water is evaporating, and then add the 2nd tbsp of olive oil, and sprinkle with the spice/sugar mix, stirring until well coated. 
 
After a minute or two of cooking, and when it seems to be crisping up, taste for seasoning and add more as necessary. 
 
If you really want a bit of extra crisp, and you’re using a cast iron pan, you can broil the mix for a minute or two (or place it on a baking sheet and do the same). 
 
Serve on tacos, or in whatever vessel you like!

Vegan Stroganoff
for Environment911.org
March 12, 2021

Traditional Beef Stroganoff gets a vegan twist with this all-mushroom version of the classic dish

There was a restaurant in my neighborhood that made a Chicken Stroganoff years ago, and I think that was the last time I had Stroganoff. I don’t enjoy beef, and tend to eat vegetarian, but the other day I saw a photo of Stroganoff and thought: I bet I can veganize this.

The results were even better than I imagined. Not only was it quick and super easy, but it was also hearty and filling—and I used a mix of mushrooms that I really enjoyed (I can’t wait to try it with seasonal ones like morels and chanterelles).

INGREDIENTS

- 2 tablespoons vegan butter
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
- 2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 cups mushrooms, cleaned, chopped, variety of your choice
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 3/4 cup vegetable stock
- 2 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tbsp flour
- Fresh thyme (or dried)
- 1/4 cup plain vegan yogurt or sour cream
- Salt and pepper
- 4 oz pasta, your choice, but a wide noodle is best (and make sure it doesn’t contain eggs if you're doing strictly vegan)
- 1 tbsp parsley, chopped

INSTRUCTIONS

Fill a large pot with salted water and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until just al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, melt the vegan butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallot and sauté for a few minutes, then add the garlic, thyme and the mushrooms.
Continue cooking until the mushrooms have softened (5 minutess or more, depending on the type of mushrooms used).

Add the white wine and deglaze the pan, then simmer.
In a bowl, whisk the flour with the stock and Worcestershire sauce until smooth. Then add to the skillet gradually, whisking as you go until incorporated, and the sauce begins to thicken.
Remove from heat and let stand for a minute, and then add in the vegan yogurt or sour cream, salt and pepper, cooked pasta and stir together.

Season to taste (add more thyme or salt and pepper if needed), then plate and top with chopped parsley.

Makes 2 servings

Earl Grey Sour

Earl Grey Sour

Blood & Honey Mocktail

Blood & Honey Mocktail

Sage & Ginger Paloma Mocktail

Sage & Ginger Paloma Mocktail

“3 Mocktails To Help You Through Dry February”

(also appears on BC Living)

Every now and then, you might think about taking time off drinking alcohol, be it Sober October, starting on January 1st, or just sticking to weekends only. Sometimes you cave and have that glass of wine, or hockey returns and you just want an ice-cold beer. But there’s always next month!

While October and January are popular for taking a month off, February is the shortest month of the year, and if you commit, you could even raise money for a good cause through the Canadian Cancer Society!

This is all well said and done, but if you’re used to a variety of flavours and fancy concoctions, water can get pretty boring pretty quickly. Well, I’m in the middle of taking January off drinking, and it was requested that I come up with some mocktails to help fill the need to sip out of those fancy glasses you have sitting by your liquor. So gather the ingredients, shake, sip, and be satisfied!

Earl Grey Sour
I love a whiskey or bourbon sour, and figured I could make one without the booze fairly easily. Don’t let the raw egg white scare you, it’s key to getting the foam in the sour. If you’re vegan, substitute it out for aquafaba.

The great thing with this recipe (and making any of these yourself at home) is that you control the amount of sugar going into the drinks, so not only are you cutting out the booze, you can watch how much sugar you’re taking in as well.

INGREDIENTS:

Simple Syrup:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water

Sour:
- 4 oz earl grey tea – brewed and chilled
- 1.5 oz fresh lemon juice
- 1oz honey
- 0.5 oz simple syrup
- 1 egg white
- ice

INSTRUCTIONS:
Makes ~2 Drinks
*TIP: Make the Syrup and the Tea the day before you’re going to make the cocktail as they need to chill in the fridge.

For the Simple Syrup:
Bring 1 cup of water and sugar toward a boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved, then remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Should keep in the fridge for about a week.
*If you’re going to be making a lot of drinks, you can up the amounts, as long as they’re 1:1 ratio.

For the Cocktail:
Brew a high-quality, loose-leaf earl grey tea, and then let it completely chill in the fridge.

Juice the lemon and strain any pulp or seeds out.
In a cocktail shaker, add in the tea, lemon juice, honey and simple syrup. Close the lid and shake to combine the ingredients.

Open and add the egg white and ice. Shake vigorously.
Pour slowly through the strainer into two coupe glasses (if you have them), making sure to get the foam on top.
CHEERS!

Blood & Honey Mocktail

I don’t like a lot of sugar in my drinks, as too much sweetness makes my teeth hurt. But to each their own and you can easily adjust this mocktail to your liking. Add a bit more honey, or substitute in simple syrup if you’re vegan, or cut it down with more seltzer.

INGREDIENTS:
- 2 blood oranges, juiced and strained (approx 4 oz)
- 1 tbsp honey (or simple syrup)
- 1 oz lime juice
- 4 oz (or more) seltzer/sparkling water
- optional: splash of real vanilla extract
- garnish – lime wedge or blood orange slice
- ice

INSTRUCTIONS:
Makes: 1 large drink or 2 short drinks

Place the strained blood orange juice, lime juice, honey, and optional vanilla in a cocktail shaker, and shake it for about 15 seconds to dissolve the honey.

Fill a glass with ice, and pour the juice mixture over it. Top the juice with sparkling water, and garnish with the lime wedge or blood orange slice.
SALUD!

Sage & Ginger Paloma Mocktail

If it wasn’t supposed to be a mocktail, I could see adding tequila or gin to this drink, but it’s so refreshing and interesting on its own/as is.
Once again, make the syrup ahead of time so that it can cool properly.

INGREDIENTS:

Sage & Ginger Syrup:
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar (or agave syrup)
- ½ cup sage leaves
- ginger (approx. two thumb-sized pieces)

Paloma Mocktail:
- 1 large grapefruit, juice and strained
- 1 oz Sage & Ginger Syrup
- ice
- seltzer/sparkling water
- optional: garnish - grapefruit slice or sage leaves

INSTRUCTIONS:

Sage & Ginger Syrup:
Peel and slice the ginger into medallions.
In a small pot, bring the water to a low boil and stir in the sugar or syrup until it is dissolved, then add in the sage and ginger and return to a boil.

Remove from the heat and let stand for 20 minutes, then strain it into a container, and cool. Place it in the fridge to chill until needed. Should keep for approximately one week.

Sage & Ginger Paloma Mocktail:
Makes approx. 1 drink
(Depending on the size of your grapefruit, you can likely get two out of it)

Fill a glass with ice, add the 1oz of the sage and ginger syrup, and approx. 2 oz of grapefruit juice – stir to combine.

Top the glass with your choice of sparkling water (I had grapefruit flavor on hand), and mix slightly to combine with juice, and garnish with optional slice of grapefruit, or sage leaves.

SANTÉ!

But Make It Vegan: Chocolate Pudding
Recipe for Environment 911

Sometimes you have a craving for pudding (or chocolate in general), but don’t want to over-indulge. This recipe feels like the best of both worlds, as it will curb that chocolate craving and provide nutrition, and you’ll never guess there are avocados in it! You’ll want to adjust the taste based on what you prefer.

More or less banana, or maybe some more cocoa or spices. If you have some picky eaters that prefer a more milk-chocolate taste, you can add a bit of coconut sugar. Just try not to eat it all while you’re taste-testing!

PUDDING INGREDIENTS

• 2 ripe medium avocados

• 1 medium banana

• 1/2 cup cacao powder (double check it’s vegan)

• 6-8 dates (roughly 1/4 cup)

• 1/2 cup plant-based milk

• 1/2 tsp ginger

• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

• 1/2 nutmeg, fresh is best if you have it

OPTIONAL TOPPINGS

• Non-dairy whipped cream

• Fresh fruit

• Mint

• Sprinkle of fresh nutmeg, or cinnamon

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Soak the dates either overnight or in a bowl with very warm water for 10 minutes. This softens them and makes them easier to blend. If your blender is high-powered enough, you might not even need this step.

2. Put all pudding ingredients into a food processor, high-powered blender, or if you don’t have either, try an immersion blender. If the mixture is way too thick, add a bit more non-dairy milk, and if it’s too thin, add more banana or avocado.

3. Pour into glasses (wine glasses will work) or small bowls.

4. Optionally chill in fridge for an hour.

5. Top with desired toppings and serve.

Makes 2 large or 4 small servings

Christine’s Holiday List…For You!

What a weird year, and it’s going to be a strange holiday season too. I was inspired by a few people to write a post with some suggestions on how to support small businesses (not unlike myself), and decided I’d put up a list of a few of my favourite local ones.

This runs the gamut from musicians and literature, to textiles and food, to online exercise classes and workshops, art prints and wooden spoons. I may end up adding to it, but it took me several days to compile and think about what people might like. I’ve pretty much either worked with a lot of the people on this list, or they are my friends (or I just love them) so you know you can’t go wrong.

And once again, if you were thinking about getting a photo printed for someone, feel free to CONTACT ME and I can sort you out!

Everything listed below is in the visuals above as well (in this order), so here you go:

Limonella Co - I’ve worked with Lisa for years and her latest project Limonella from it’s beginnings. Everything she has in her shop is carefully curated (I would know) and the quality is superb. I use my tote bag every day (I did almost all of the pics for the “Chasing Yum” one), and can never get enough of the desk calendars. Right now she has holiday wrapping paper and gift tags too

Take Me Away Vegan Pastries - Just started working with this yummy company this year and it’s been a …treat! You can’t go wrong with handmade Vegan Cannoli, and right now they have a Peppermint Candy Cane flavour that is sooooo good.

Prints By Jam - I met Jaimi through the Vancouver music scene (specifically The Zolas) when she was just a youngin’. Lately she’s been killin’ it and making some amazing and funky prints (as well as stickers and shirts!). Check it out.

Foe & Dear - Katherine over at Foe & Dear and I went to Ryerson at the same time and both wound up in Vancouver. I haven’t had the chance to collaborate with her yet, but I have several pieces from her jewelry line and love looking at all the sparkly things on their instagram. There’s a list of ready-made last-minute gifts that would be good to go for Christmas that you can find - right here (but hurry for those!). *sparkle sparkle*

Christina Sicoli - Not only is she an incredible actor & person, my birthday twin (Scorpios!), and was paired with me when I was in Kindergarten and she was in Grade 3 (she remembers this, I don’t haha), but Christina is a phenomenal artist! I wish I had more wall space in my tiny apartment for some of her work. If you want bright colours (esp. if you’re in grey, rainy Vancouver), check out her work.

Andy Spoons - Music is how I know Andy as well as he plays in a few bands (one with his very talented wife whom I also love), but recently dove head first into carving wooden spoons by hand. He sources the wood locally and carves with an axe and knife. They’re all so unique and beautiful, and I’m excited to have one on the way to use in some of my food photography. Keep an eye out for it!

MUSIC:
Here are some of my favourite records from the year - many of which I have on vinyl, almost all include some of my greatest friends and awesome humans, and all of them are from Vancouver or are Canadian!
I also put a playlist together with songs from these albums, and a few others tracks (singles) from some other favourites of 2020 that I enjoyed - click here to hear it on Spotify.

Top Row (L to R): Rich Aucoin - United States, Odario - Good Morning Hunter, Hannah Georgas - All That Emotion, Yukon Blonde - Vindicator

Middle Row (L to R): Aidan Knight - Aidan Knight, Shred Kelly - Like A Rising Sun, Arkells - Campfire Chords, The Matinée - Pretty Rustic Melodies

Bottom Row (L to R): Jody Glenham - Mood Rock, We Are The City - RIP, Adaline - Dear Illusion,, The Pack a.d. - it was fun while it lasted

BOOKS:

I know quite a few writers in Vancouver, but I haven’t got to these three books yet, so they’re on my list, and they can be on yours too! If you can, try and support your local bookstore!
Left to Right:
Charlie Demers - Primary Obsessions
Alicia Tobin - So You’re A Little Sad, So What? Nice Things To Say To Yourself on Bad Days and Other Essays
Andrea Warner - Buffy Sainte-Marie: The Authorized Biography

OTHER:

Barre Fitness (Virtual Studio) - I’ve worked with Barre for as many years as I’ve been taking classes there. Both photos for their recipe blog and of the instructors and studios. A few of the locations have had to close since the pandemic started and it makes me incredibly sad. So if you’d like to get back into the exercise game, their virtual studios are open for business.

Method Of Modern Movement (Virtual Studio) - Most of what I said about Barre can be reiterated here. I met Janelle through Barre and I’m proud to call this hard-working woman my friend. She founded Method Of Modern Movement (or MOMMs for short) and this very year opened her first studio. Many of the pics of Janelle on her website are from our collaborations, which are more fun than work - and that’s also where you’ll find info about her virtual studio and what the classes in-studio are like as well.

Conference & Chill - This summer I found out about this awesome virtual conference, put on by some mega talented people from BC, but gathered photographers from all over the world. Over three days (4 really) I learned and connected and was in awe by the talent of so many people - and I didn’t even have to leave my couch. They decided to keep it going and are doing mini conferences once a month, last month covered outdoor adventure photography, and they more coming up including film photography, boudoir, and the one I’m looking forward to the most, Business & Marketing edition. Tickets are online now (and there is a bundle for the 3 that are announced), and you can buy some of the replays from this summer too. Even if you’re not a photog, there is a playback talk you can purchase of Helen Sloan - the on-set photographer for Game of Thrones, and it’s epic!

I may update this, but my brain is so tired from wrapping gifts and looking at this screen that I’m going to go chill out and listen to my playlist from up there.