food blog – Two Wild Tides

Healthy ‘Caramel’ Squares

October 26, 2020 | Leave a Comment

Throughout the Covid-19 lockdown, I had the time to learn some new recipes, pick up some cooking and baking tips from the internet, and come up with some completely new creations. One of my favourite creations was a combination of my favourite salted caramel balls (original blog post here) and cheesecake crust. I had to work with what I had left in my cupboards, ok? I know you can relate.

For the crust: in a food processor, combine 1/3 cup almonds, 1/3 cup walnuts, 1/3 cup pecans, 1 cup pitted medjool dates, and a generous dash of sea salt. Press the mixture into a rectangular cake pan lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate.

For the caramel: soak 1 cup pitted dates in boiling water for about 20 minutes. Drain the water and in your food processor, combine the dates with 1 teaspoon of vanilla and blend until you get a creamy consistency. Layer this on top of the crust and poke it back in the fridge.

For the chocolate topping: I just melted some milk chocolate chips in a double boiler because I can’t resist! To keep it completely healthy, you could melt down dark chocolate, combine coconut oil and cocoa powder, or sprinkle the top with cacao nibs.

And that’s it! Simple, hey? It helps to keep them in the freezer so they’ll get really firm, but it isn’t necessary. The ‘caramel’ squares are gluten-free (refined sugar-free and dairy-free too if you skip the milk chocolate!) and are packed with healthy fats and protein from the nuts. Enjoy with a cup of tea or your morning coffee (or whenever– you do you!!)

Country Challenge: North Korea

September 17, 2020 | Leave a Comment

Join twowildtides on the country challenge. Each week, we’re going to be heading to a new country (in spirit). Primarily, we’ll be cooking a meal from each country; but we’ll also be watching travel documentaries, reading travel blogs, and listening to music. During the global pandemic, travel is largely inaccessible. We want to reignite our wanderlust, satisfy our travel bug as much as we can, and learn some new things along the way. I have a feeling our bucket list will have a number of items added to it through this experience as well. We created a simple alphabetical spreadsheet with all the countries of the world, and each week we will draw a random number that corresponds with a country on the spreadsheet.

Last week, we took on a Caribbean destination: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. This week, our spreadsheet and random number generator offered us an interesting choice. North Korea.

We all have our ideas and opinions about North Korea. And because the country is so often surrounded by a cloud of controversy, uncertainty, and secrecy, we forget that it is a real place with real citizens and a unique culture. We were intrigued to learn more about their cuisine.

North Korea

It was difficult to uncover what the popular dishes in North Korea are. From my understanding, the national dish is Kimchi, which I cannot buy locally and did not have time this week to make from scratch. Through a little research, I learned that the average citizen in North Korea likely cannot afford to dine out and often solely consumes basic staples, such as kimchi and rice. I checked out a few blog posts, and across the lists of popular foods in the country, one dish prevailed: Naengmyeon.

We learned about Naengmyeon from this article by Young Pioneer Tours as well as this Vice.com article and this Taste Atlas article.

Disclaimer: there were a lot of authentic ingredients we could not get in our rural Alberta community, so we made some swaps. This is the recipe we followed:

Because I couldn’t buy pickled radishes locally, I started this recipe by making some the night before. They turned out super yummy and the colour was so pretty! I just thinly sliced fresh radish and added them to a jar with equal parts vinegar and water as well as some sugar and peppercorns.

I prepared the simple broth and placed it in the fridge to chill. I cooked the medium-boiled eggs and beef and set it to one side while we chopped some cucumber and pear.

I bought pre-cooked oat-fibre spaghetti noodles as I could not find anything remotely close to myun, buckwheat, or soba noodles at our local supermarket. Plating (or bowling?) the dish was really fun as we could get creative with our presentation. I think it was a very visually appealing dish.

Honestly, I did not like the broth that much. I think it was the beef broth that threw it off, I might have liked it better if the chicken to beef broth ratio was 2:1. What was surprising, though, was how much I enjoyed a cold noodle/soup dish. It was actually pretty refreshing! Mack ended up throwing his in the microwave though!

While we ate, we watched a few YouTube videos about tourism in North Korea:

While North Korea might not be at the top of our travel bucket list and naengmyeon may not be our meal of a lifetime, this was certainly a really unique learning experience for us. Have you had anything like it before? Stay tuned for next week’s country!

Country Challenge: St. Vincent and the Grenadines

September 10, 2020 | Leave a Comment

Last week, for our first country, we travelled (figuratively, of course) to Uzbekistan. For our second week, we’re moving down south to St. Vincent and the Grenadines. To my disappointment, the sweet and tangy liqueur, grenadine, does not come from the Grenadines. So that dream was squashed pretty quickly. What we did make, however, was pretty great.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines are an archipelago (we discussed that term in our article about St. Pierre and Miquelon) in the southeast Caribbean, just north of South America. While Saint Vincent is the main island and the largest, the Grenadines are made up of 32 smaller islands. Reading about this place made me crave a Caribbean vacation.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Compared to last week, it was tougher to determine what dish best represented Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The country’s national dish is roasted breadfruit and fried jackfish, but in my small northern Alberta community, fresh breadfruit was near impossible to find. I could have opted for a dried version that could be ordered online, but that didn’t feel nearly as authentic. I found two bloggers that cooked Cod Blaff to represent this country and a few other articles that confirmed that this type of dish would be commonly served in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, so I was satisfied. I followed this recipe:

Luckily, Mack’s mom had just sent us a special delivery from Newfoundland. Among other treats, she had sent us fresh codfish from home. The timing was perfect.

I knew this meal was going to pack a punch when I read that the fish would marinate in fresh lime juice with onion, garlic, and hot peppers. Marination is a basic process, however, I rarely marinate my food. I was so impressed with the flavours in this meal, I’ll certainly be trying to incorporate marination more often.

I let the fish marinate for 24 hours. I wanted to maximize the flavours in this meal because it was so unlike anything I had tried before. Adding the wine, oil, and spices to the stew created such a strong aroma throughout my house. At first, I thought the allspice and cloves would clash with the limes, but it definitely worked out in the end. The taste was so rich.

While I cooked, I listened to a Saint Vincent and the Grenadines playlist on Spotify. It was essentially music you’d expect to hear on a Caribbean resort–no complaints about that here.

This dish was surprisingly easy to prepare for such an incredible flavour payoff. It is unsurprisingly tangy but I was caught off guard by just how refreshing it was. Despite having an unattractive name, Cod Blaff is such an exciting dish. I can just imagine drinking that broth when I have a cold and immediately feeling better. The rice ensured that the meal was filling, however, I definitely could have eaten the cod on its own.

We’ll definitely be making this meal again. Have you had anything like it before? Have you been to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines? Stay tuned for next week’s country!

Grab A Surfboard – Let’s Go!

February 4, 2019 | Leave a Comment

The Gold Coast is one of the quintessential Australian locations. It’s been featured in dozens of Hollywood features and proves to be a popular place among tourists. I spent one night here and thoroughly enjoyed my time on these white sand beaches.

I stayed only minutes from Surfers Paradise; I could walk to the beach in seconds. Naturally, a lot of time was spent lounging on the beach, taking in the waves and watching the surfers. The surf was quite strong so I made sure to stay in the life-guarded areas and not go out too far. It was absolutely lovely. Nothing is too far from the beach either so if you’re hungry, there are tons of cafes and bars.

One of my favourite parts of my entire backpacking experience was surfing with Get Wet Surf School on the Gold Coast. We surfed at The Spit and it was a wild couple of hours. The instructors were so great and really went through the basics with everyone on the beach. They came in the water with us too and were there for a push and a little advice. I had surfed only a handful of times before and I was determined to stand up on my own. (Which I did!). There’s nothing like catching a wave. It’s such a cool feeling – you’re on top of the world. I felt very safe out in the water and they even snapped some photos for us! If you’re heading to the Gold Coast – check them out!

Thanks to Get Wet Surf School for this picture!

On the drive down to the Gold Coast, I spotted an inflatable aqua park. From the moment I saw it, I knew I had to check it out. It was like real life wipeout zone and it was a blast. You pay per session and you have 50 mins on the water. That was the perfect amount of time for me – any longer and I would’ve been toast. It was pretty physically demanding but so much fun. It provided some hilarious slips and falls as well! Check out GC Aqua Park for a fun-filled day that the entire family with love!

The one night getaway was filled with delicious food; beach time and some much needed relaxation. SANDBAR is your destination for an amazing smoothie bowl. The food is great but be prepared to wait a while for your meal. It’s not the quickest service but at least you have a beach view!

xoxo,
linds

Check out the next leg of the adventure: 3 Day Trips from Brisbane

I Ate Exactly Like A YouTuber For A Day

December 10, 2018 | Leave a Comment

HealthNut Nutrition is one of my favourite blogs and YouTube channels. Nicole Goncalves is a vibrant personality and beyond talented in the kitchen. I love following her recipes and meal preps, watching her grocery hauls, and reading her blog posts. It’s even better that she’s Canadian! Nicole’s “What I Eat in a Day” videos are some of my favourites to watch because I get so many good meal ideas from them. That’s why I decided to follow one for an entire day– from the first glass of water to suppertime.

I decided to do this mostly for the fun of it. But also to try some new meals, learn about simple ways to eat healthier, and to see how I’d feel at the end of the day. I have a healthy diet, but I find myself making the same recipes all the time and finding it hard to resist temptation. I wanted to see if HealthNut Nutrition could teach me any new tips and tricks. Click here to see the video I chose to follow for the day. Keep reading to see how it went!

The day started with chugging a tall glass of water. Which was great, as I was feeling a touch hungover. Then I drank another glass of water, this time with lemon and ginger. I never knew there was such an easy way to juice fresh ginger, just grate the ginger and then squeeze the juice out of the pulp with your fingers. It was so easy! I expected it to be gross, but it tasted so good and really woke me up (hangover=gone). I’ll be drinking this most mornings from now on!

For breakfast, Nicole had chia seed pudding with mango-lime puree, topped with banana and granola. I’ve made chia seed pudding many times, but never with coconut milk. The coconut milk made the pudding set much faster than almond milk, which is what I normally use, so breakfast was ready in 30 minutes rather than having to prepare it the night before. The mango-lime puree was simple and delicious. Overall this was a tasty, filling, and healthy breakfast that energized me for the whole day.

Over the course of the morning, I got some work done, sipped herbal tea (Nicole drinks herbal coffee, but that wasn’t available in our local grocery store), and made the HealthNut Nutrition One Bowl Hemp Banana Bread Muffins.

I was pretty excited about lunch. The Mashed Avocado Salmon Tartine looked mouthwatering in the YouTube video and I couldn’t wait to give it a try. Although in the video Nicole had it with tuna, the original recipe called for salmon so I went with that as I prefer salmon over tuna. This was also the first time I tried veganaise and I was pleasantly surprised– it’s just as good as classic mayo. Lunch tasted as good as it looked, and I was getting jealous stares from my sister and boyfriend who claimed they “weren’t hungry” when I offered to make them some. They won’t turn down my offer next time! Nicole and I share a love for Bubbly water, so this went perfectly with my lunch too.

Throughout the afternoon, I got lots more work done and sipped more herbal tea. I’m a big green tea drinker anyway, so having this much tea wasn’t anything new for me. I finally dug into the aromatic muffins I made in the morning and they were scrumptious. You’d never guess they are healthy! I was even told, “they’re the best muffins you’ve ever made.” Thanks, Nicole– I’ll be saving this recipe to use again and again! Like her, I may or may not have eaten three.

I’m someone who enjoys cooking but has trouble coming up with creative meal ideas, so learning a new recipe for supper was awesome. This twist on a Nicoise salad with chicken and a soft boiled egg was really tasty and made for a balanced meal. I’ve always had trouble getting soft boiled eggs right (who likes runny egg whites? Yuck!) and Nicole’s directions helped me nail it– a soft centre with perfectly cooked whites. The chicken, potatoes, and green beans were tasty too.

Overall, this was a great day with great food. I felt full all day but not bloated or sick. What did I learn? How to juice ginger pulp, how to make chia seed pudding with coconut milk for a better consistency, the best muffin recipe ever, and how to cook the perfect soft-boiled eggs. I really recommend all of these recipes for you to try. I know you will enjoy them!

Let us know if you try any of these recipes by commenting below or on social media, @twowildtides. Be sure to check out @urhealthnut on Instagram, HealthNut Nutrition on YouTube, and the HealthNut Nutrition blog!