Tag: vegan

Maleeya’s Minnierella 4th Birthday

Maleeya’s Minnierella 4th Birthday

I can’t believe that Maleeya is already 4-years-old. It’s almost a month later and I’ve been slacking on my food blogging, but this was a very special birthday party catering and since I’ve blogged about each of her birthdays, I can’t stop at 3. So 

Beautiful Bountiful Body Retreat from Judgement

Beautiful Bountiful Body Retreat from Judgement

  I’ve had a few weeks to reflect and enjoy the memories and events that took place  during our Beautiful Bountiful Body Retreat from Judgement at Lido Palms in Desert Hot Springs. This week has been such a busy week of staying in the moment, 

Roasted Cauliflower with Crispy Cavolo Nero

Roasted Cauliflower with Crispy Cavolo Nero

We’re all looking for new and interesting ways to eat vegetables, right? Well, we should be, even if we currently aren’t. Being on a quest for healthy living, we sometimes come across a dish that just appears so often on the table that it’s second nature. One of these dishes in my family is roasted cauliflower.

If you haven’t had roasted cauliflower, you really are missing out on something very simple, yet quite delicious. You can make it with a variety of accompaniments, but you can also just make it with a little salt, pepper and a bit of water in a hot oven and you’ve got something delectable to pair with your favorite foods. This recipe is for roasted cauliflower, but I used the addition of roasted Tuscan black kale also known as cavolo nero, to make a textural and flavorful difference, that’s sure to get anyone’s lack of green veggies replenished. Tuscan kale is highly nutritious and like most kale, has a bit of a bitter earthy flavor. The use of lemon and garlic, along with a very hot oven, changes the texture and flavor to a wonderful new experience. I hope you enjoy this lovely side dish.

 

Roasted Cauliflower with Crispy Cavolo Nero

 

1/2 head cauliflower, cut from the stem and made into small florets and washed, but not dried

1 bunch cavolo nero or Tuscan black kale, cleaned and chopped into bite-size pieces

4 cloves garlic, minced

½ lemon, juiced and zest of ½ lemon

Salt

Pepper

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Pinch cayenne pepper

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

On a large cookie sheet, place small cauliflower florets on sheet pan, just after they are washed and toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper. Cook for about 20 minutes or until the edges are brown and crispy.

 

In a small oven-proof sauté pan or on a large cookie sheet, mix together cavolo nero with 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt, pepper and lemon juice spread evenly over the surface. Then place in the oven for about 10 minutes. Check the cavolo nero about half way through and turn them in the pan so they don’t burn.

Pour the two together and let roast for another 3-5 minutes, till flavors incorporate together. Check seasoning to taste and add fresh lemon zest.

Place in a serving dish and serve.

 

 

Cheers

-Unrivaledkitch

Follow Your Heart

Follow Your Heart

A delicious grocery and dining establishment, Follow Your Heart adorns the streets of Canoga Park on Sherman Way. Amongst the dollar stores, small antiques marts and other dining establishments is a valley landmark for Vegans and Vegetarians alike. A store unlike many, it’s a one-stop 

Spinach and Cabbage Minestrone

Spinach and Cabbage Minestrone

What is Minestrone?  It’s said to be a soup comprised of the things you have on hand; maybe vegetables, meat, broth, beans or pasta. In Italian, minestrone, roughly translated, means the big soup. The kind of minestrone I like, is simmered for long periods of 

Real Food Daily Santa Monica

Real Food Daily Santa Monica

I love going out almost as much as I love eating in. It isn’t uncommon for me to spend a good chunk of money supporting my favorite local eateries or going to try somewhere new on the map or at least new to me. My lovely fashion blogger friend Stephanie was/is my partner in crime for local valley fun snacks and drinks to Santa Monica vegan cuisine at Real Food Daily.

I’ve been hearing lots of great things about Real Food Daily for a long time. Real Food daily has two locations one in Santa Monica California as well as another in West Hollywood California. They specialize in vegan cuisine and the whole restaurant is vegan friendly no meat products or animal anything is in this place and I have a great respect for that.

Of course when you head out to a distinguished area such as Santa Monica you’re in for a time finding a parking space but I know it comes with the area so finally after trolling around a couple of blocks three times I found a structure not too far for the restaurant for us to park. At the price of 7 bucks a car we started off the evening in the hole.

Walking up to the restaurant you’ll see a wide verity of people, hippies, scene-sters, athletic health freaks, as well as the more stylish side of Santa Monica and the like passing through the glass doors or ordering a latte or take out from the bakery portion of the restaurant. The host stand sits outside and once we walked through the doors the large white ceiling fixtures, yellow walls, the shinny espresso machine, and large vegan pastry case are the 1st focal points I noticed. We were sat in a small section upstairs in a back corner, I would say not the best seat in the house but without a reservation it would do. A bunch of tightly packed seats of wood and simple tables with utensils with paper napkins placed on the tables.

Real food Daily sells wine and beer so that’s always a nice added perk. Their wine list and beer list feature organic wines and organic breweries. I had really lovely dark ale called triple exultation by eel river brewing company located in Fortuna, ca. The ale had a deep rich sweetness with a nice dark aftertaste. I enjoyed it very much. Stephanie had pale ale from butte creek brewery located in Northern California.

As we enjoyed conversation and interesting girly gossip about new things we didn’t know about each other, we finally finished perusing the plethora of vegan options that Real Food Daily has to offer.

menu

Combining local organic ingredients and some of the best vegan options I’ve seen in a long time, it took me a while to really see what I wanted. But I decided on sharing a sundried tomato hummus and pita and for my entree i would have the BBQ Bello Salad.

The hummus to our surprise was under seasoned and underwhelming and honestly not very memorable, but not bad but not good. I would say the seasoning was lacking but maybe that’s the way of this place who knows. I thought the ratio of pita to hummus was a little strange as well. I knew that my beer was wonderful so I kept my expectations at a minimum for my salad as to not be disappointed either way.

Finally after we finished up a bit, I’d say the waitress was doing double the work she should be been and if I was a needy customer we would of felt avoided because we saw our waitress herself about 3 times during the meal. She was attentive and sweet but you could see that she was over stretched at the moment.

My salad arrived and the smell was just wonderful. It had a peppery sweetness to the whole dish and I couldn’t wait to try it but of course pictures first. The mango and avocado was divine it had all the textures that i look for in a good salad. The peppery ranch dressing is something that made the whole salad come together. The smooth creamy avocado with the sweet pungency of mangoes and red onions and the roasted BBQ flavor of portobello mushroom mixed with soft silky tofu was spot on. If this wasn’t a special for that month I’d say to order it straight away. I think I’ll definitely be making this salad myself sometime in my kitchen I’ll put a link to this post when i do. It’s definitely something memorable,different, and quite delicious.

Stephanie had a Caeser wrap that was filled with Blackened tempeh, avocado, capers, romaine hearts, caesar dressing, spinach tortilla she also added veggie bacon which she added was some of the best veggie bacon shes had since being vegetarian for almost a year now. Over all I’d say she was very happy with her wrap which was on side of a small mixed salad.

Sometimes expectations of things cloud the purity of the idea of a chef as well as some chefs just get side tracked, here just like anywhere we can find things that may turn us off but here there is the simple locality of wonderful vegan food and a restaurant that cares enough for it’s community to use local and organic ingredients and those things are what make Real Food Daily stand out.

Cheers
Unrivaledkitch
Twitter and Foodbuzz

Vegan clementine blueberry cupcakes with candied blueberry compote

Vegan clementine blueberry cupcakes with candied blueberry compote

Baking as you can tell is something I’ve grown to love. There is something that is to be said about a perfectly chewy cookie, a beautiful cake, or a wonderful sweet flavor combination and during my chef days I probably would of never said that 

Online Bake Sale Auction Items to Help Japan

Online Bake Sale Auction Items to Help Japan

The Japanese need your help more than ever; this is what we’re doing to help. Actions speak louder than words but cookies and cakes speak across the globe for a hand in helping out. Japan is a part of my culture and my mind. As