Every summer we make a weekend trip up the Pacific coast to visit our stunningly beautiful sister city to the North, Vancouver. And always, the highlight of this annual pilgrimage is dinner at one of our favorite restaurants of all time, Vij’s.
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Nourishing Recipes and Wellness Guides for your Mind, Body and Soul
By Milen Gala
Every summer we make a weekend trip up the Pacific coast to visit our stunningly beautiful sister city to the North, Vancouver. And always, the highlight of this annual pilgrimage is dinner at one of our favorite restaurants of all time, Vij’s.
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By Milen Gala
In India, the vegetable leftovers from the previous night’s dinner are often mashed up and kneaded into dough to make parathas. The parathas are then eaten with pickles and/or yogurt for brunch or lunch the next day.
I’m always in search of new and creative ways to get more lentils, a rich source of protein and iron, into our vegetarian diet. In this recipe, the split chickpea lentils, also known as channa dal, mix well into the dough, making the parathas much easier to roll than if they were made with vegetables or harder-texture lentils.
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By Milen Gala
As may be true in Cairo, Beirut or Jerusalem, a falafel sandwich is and remains some of Detroit’s favorite street food. Growing up in Dearborn, Michigan (largest population of Middle Eastern peoples outside of the Middle East), I was never more than 10 minutes away from a fresh, hot, falafel. Every summer, my friends and I would ride our bikes to wait in line at a local, mom and pop, family-run falafel stand. Today, a bite of these crunchy, intensely flavorful patties, combined with cool garnishes, and folded into a fresh pita takes me home and to my childhood.
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By Milen Gala
The thought of making pita bread at home has always intimidated me. I’ve tried it a few times and they’ve never turned out quite right… Lately both kids have been eating a lot of hummus, and usually they are enjoying it with store bought pita bread, pita chips, or carrot sticks. So this was my inspiration for giving it another go. But, how do I get these flat round pizza-like doughs to puff up with steam, thereby creating that perfect pocket? The illusion of that perfect pita was hard to to turn to reality. That is, until today….
The ingredients in this recipe are as simple as it gets and with a bit of time, upper body strength and a brush of water, these pita’s puffed up like the perfect puri.
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By Milen Gala
If there is one thing our recent, late summer trip to Italy taught us, it’s that Italian cuisine is much more rich, varied and expansive than most of us here on the other side of the pond realize. While there is some truth to the north-south Italian divide, with simple tomato-based, produce-driven peasant food in the south and the opulent, rich, creamy, seafood and meat dishes from the wealthier north, there is also a unique culinary point of view that emerges at the country’s edge, on the island of Sicily.
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By Milen Gala
Over the past decade tortilla soup has become a popular dish on restaurant menus and dinner tables all across America…and while there may be hundreds of variations of the recipe, virtually every one uses most of the same simple yet flavorful ingredients.
This soup we have now been making for years, after several attempts, having finally found the perfect balance between the tomatoes, tortilla and veggies… The aromatic spices and warmth of this soup make it a wonderful dish to transition from late fall into winter.
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By Milen Gala
Nothing heralds the start of the holiday season like the scent of cinnamon in the air. Crisps, pies, tarts, brown betty’s, and gallettes all provide the perfect medium by which to feature this most comforting and soulful of spices. Our winter desserts always seem to involve cinnamon, its faithful running mate, nutmeg and some combination of apples, pears, cranberries and sometimes pumpkin.
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By Milen Gala
Ballard is one of our favorite neighborhoods in the city. The streets are lined with funky clothing, toy and book shops, coffee houses, tea stalls and many of the city’s famously popular restaurants. It was at a farmers market in Ballard, when we first moved to Seattle, that we first tasted this delectable quesadilla…
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By Milen Gala
This weekend was the last of our fall farmers market. As per our usual Sunday afternoon we walked out the front door and down the five blocks to the center of town… Autumn was in the air. Brightly colored leaves intermixed with evergreens, the smell of pine cones just washed down from the Pacific Northwest rains. The street was filled with people riding bikes, scooters, walking dogs and wearing North Face fleece jackets, all amongst the backdrop of beautiful Lake Washington. It was the quintessential fall day in Seattle…
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By Milen Gala
There is a boy in this house that can not live without blueberries…. he craves them in the summer, he craves them in the winter… he craves them for breakfast, he craves them for dessert… loves them in oatmeal, pancakes, coffee cake, pies, crisps, tarts… in any way, shape or form… and anytime just on their own…
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