thecanaryfiles

Baked Sweet Potato Fries & Curried Coconut Milk Dip

Baked Sweet Potato Fries & Curried Coconut Milk Dip This recipe was inspired by one of my favorite childhood food memories. I know I have a lot of them, but if you recall, I was definitely not thin in my younger years. And a big reason for this was my love affair with food []

Marinated Adzuki Bean & Radish Salad

I love beans. In earlier, pre-gluten-free years, they were fine, but not something I ate on a regular basis. They simply were not on my radar. But today, they’re a daily staple, and my pantry is well stocked with a wide variety of dried beans and pulses, ranging from chickpeas, lentils, black-eye peas, black []

Marinated White Beans & Cremini Mushrooms

Today’s recipe was inspired by a recent outing to Hillside Farmacy, a new restaurant here in Austin. I was torn between ordering marinated mushrooms and marinated Gigante beans with mixed olives as an appetizer. A real coin-flipper, right? I eventually went with the Gigante beans, which were delicious. In fact, they were the highlight of []

For Cupid: Radicchio Cups with Roasted Mushrooms, Lentils, & Carrots

Radicchio Cup with Pea Tendrils & Roasted Mushrooms, Lentils, Carrots With Valentine’s Day just a few days away, I am thoroughly excited – giddy even. While the day often highlights boxed chocolates and long-stem roses as acceptable (and even obligatory) tokens of love and romance, I’ve always been a believer that one of the most []

Kim Bap: Roll With Me

Kim Bap served with Sriracha, Pureed Ginger, and Ground Shiso Many years before I worked at The Steeping Room, I worked at a lovely Asian bakery, restaurant, and teahouse called Eastern Accents. Specializing in Chinese baked goods, Korean food, and tea, I discovered the small family owned business while attending the University of Michigan. And []

Kale Norimaki Crunch Rolls

When the weather warms, something I tend to crave is sushi. Something about it hearkens to cooling down after a long, hot day under the sun, awaiting the cover of nightfall and the pleasure of nightlife. Back in the day, come May I was such a frequent flier at my local sushi bar that they []

Ratio Rally! Gluten-Free, Vegan Crepes & Filipino Spring Rolls

Gluten-Free, Vegan Lumpiang Sariwa served with Paalat. I can’t believe it’s already March. Not that I’m complaining, but this year is off to a quick start. For me, it feels like it was barely last week that we were welcoming the New Year, and now here we are getting ready for St. Patrick’s Day, []

Oven-Roasted Pumpkin Seeds & Garlic: An Homage to Filipino Street Food

It’s hard to believe that in less than a month, I will be traveling back to the Philippines. [pinches self a little too hard] During my visit last Fall, the first since 1987, I promised everyone that I would I never let that much time go by again before making it back. Despite the []

The Love and Labor of Juicing

Double Raw Juice Happiness At work, there has been a lot of juicing lately. From day to day, there would be a variety of recycled glass jars filled with a spectrum of colors above the server station. Grassy green, hot-ember orange, vibrant magenta. It would inevitably turn into a juicing potluck, with each person sharing []

Basil Pesto Hummus

One of my favorite things to eat is hummus. Served with chips or sliced vegetables, on a bed of fresh salad greens or lightly steamed kale, or my current breakfast of choice: with black beans, sriracha, and egg whites. Lucky for me, hummus is also one of my favorite things to make. When I first []

Black Bean Hummus: Discovery & Gratitude

Vegan Black Bean Hummus with crudite and hemp-corn chips In the days following Thanksgiving, many blogs are featuring recipes that either 1) repurpose Thanksgiving leftovers or 2) help people cope with their eating remorse by being uber “healthy.” I suppose today’s recipe could fit into either camp, because it is quite healthy and I’m sure []

Spicy Chipotle Pumpkin Hummus

I love hummus. Whether it’s made with chickpeas, black beans, or lentils, it’s a true staple in my kitchen. I make it 2-3 times a week, and you’ll just have to trust me when I say that standing in front of my food processor and rummaging through my head for ideas on how I will []

The Secret of Hummus

Shhhh.it’s Hummus Mediterranean cooking has always been one of my favorites. Growing up in Michigan, if I was ever asked where I’d like to go out to eat, chances are it would involve hummus and falafel. Luckily, between Dearborn, Detroit, Ann Arbor, and Royal Oak, there was always a ton of authentic restaurants to choose []

Summer Salsa Lovin’

Roasted Corn & Black Bean Salsa When I first moved to Austin to attend grad school in the blazing hot summer of 2002, I didn’t know a soul. For the first 6 months, my best friends were my DVD player and the A/C unit. Eventually, I started meeting people in school and I started to form []

Thai Green Coconut Curried Hummus

I often dream of opening a restaurant. Sometimes I actually make-believe that I’m shopping for the restaurant when I’m at the grocery or market, planning the day’s menu based upon what’s in season and looks good. It’s a small pleasure I keep for myself that always brings a smile to my face. And something that’s []