It's that witching time of the year again folks! For those of you who celebrate Halloween, here is a quick tip on how to make those last minute goodies with your kids today. Or hey, even if you don't have kids, go ahead and make these for yourselves or for your party this weekend! Why the heck not!? Zombie/Monster Cupcakes are a cuter Halloween option compared to cookies shaped like body parts or oozing spiders. (Not that we mind those either). They are super easy to put together and you can take them to a friend's, enjoy them while staying in and watching horror movies tonight, or while partying on the weekend. Thank you Sara for your wonderful Guest Post. 

W.P

Koobideh is a very popular Persian meat dish, especially in N.America. We all love eating from that beautifully decorated dinner plate that is served up at a lot of Persian restaurants. There is always a nice salad, 1 or 2 long grilled skewers of ground beef/lamb, a grilled tomato or two, and saffron rice. Mmm! Delicious. But what happens when you’re craving that, but want a slightly healthier version and you don’t have a bbq? You come up with a very modified stove top version! I wanted to use lean veal and I wanted to make smaller kebabs plus I don’t have a bbq (as much as I love apartments/condos, that is the 1 drawback). Koobideh is super easy to make as it has very few ingredients and tastes delicious. Yes, this version is not as juicy (since it’s lean) as the beef/lamb skewers you get in the restaurant but it is a great alternative that is just as delicious and has no over powering flavours. Serve with some yoghurt and a nice salad on the side. Tip: Adding a little cumin to dishes made with ground meat helps eliminate any meaty odour.

W.P

It's Nida's Tuesday Raw Post Time! Here's an amazing raw and vegan no meat spaghetti and meatballs recipe! Who woulda thought! Love it! W.P

Oh boy, I have been hankering for comfort foods, and that usually involves pastas, potatoes, breads (you know, all the bad stuff LOL). So before I jumped off the edge of a cliff into a bottomless pit of breads, I did a little searching and I came across this recipe and thought it was easy, no dehydrator required if you have a toaster oven or regular oven and looks delicious! If you haven't already purchased a spiralizer ($30 on Amazon) its well worth the small investment. You can also purchase vegan meatballs if you're in a pinch for time, and substitute it for the raw. Make extra sauce and freeze it to have ready for the next time! 
See link here for a how-to on using your toaster oven or regular oven to dehydrate

What You Need:

Meatballs
1 cup of soaked walnuts (soaked for approx 2 hours – then drained and rinsed)
1 cup of chopped and drained marinated mushrooms (reserve marinade)  - marinated in 2 T nama shoyu, 2 T olive oil, pinch of black pepper and I garlic clove. Cover in refrigerator for 1 hour.
1 T lemon juice
1 T nama shoyu/coconut aminos
1 T Italian seasoning
1 T chilli pepper flakes
1/2 t cumin
10 sundried tomatoes refreshed in water and drained – reserve soak water

How to:

Place all ingredients in food processor fitted with an S blade and process until forms a thick paste. Try and leave some chucks for a meatier texture. If you need extra moisture use some of the reserve marinade or soak water to get the blade moving. You want the mixture to be able to be formed into balls reminiscent of meatballs. Made into desired meatball size and place on the mesh sheet in the dehydrator at 110′ for 8 – 12 hours

Marinara

1/2 cup of sundried tomatoes – water squeezed out
2 chopped roma tomatoes
1/4 cup of chopped onion
10 pitted kalamata olives
2 T chopped fresh basil
1 soft pitted date
2 T chopped rosemary
1/2 T apple cider vinegar
1 clove of crushed garlic
juice of 4 tomatoes and 2 stalks of celery
1 T of olive oil
pinch salt

How to:
Process in food processor fitted with an S blade, until smooth with slight chunks.

Spaghetti Noodles

4 peeled medium zuchinnis (courgettes) but be aware they are more watery and have more seeds.
1T olive oil
1T lemon juice
Spiralise noodles into spaghetti noodles and toss with lemon juice and olive oil in a bowl.
Top with no-meatballs and marinara and ENJOY

The picture and recipe is from here

Nida Kazmi
Twitter: @Nida84

This past weekend was a very busy one! It was my best friend's baby shower. A couple of us had been working on this event for a few weeks. I say event because it was attended by about 50 guests! The mother to be didn't want a shower that screamed "baby!", but wanted a natural, earthy, light feel instead. So we tried to create a garden party indoors with elements we knew she would enjoy. Here is the menu:

Some of the ideas we implemented to bring the vision to life: 

• Multiple tables put together to create 1 long table
• A proper table setting, but with paper place mats that were wood like & plastic cutlery wrapped in tissues with twine
• Box plates (Yellow and white as seen in the pictures) crafted and placed upon regular green paper plates
• A single, extra long burlap runner
• Clothesline (with onesies that we used fabric paint on) & Lanterns hanging above the table 
• Every clear vase we owned, filled with pine cones, baby's breath, leaves, lemons/limes, feathers, etc 
• Serving platters of different sizes and heights to add to the over all look we were going for
• The favours for the guests were ever green trees that they could go home and plant (with instructions). wrapped in burlap, ribbon, a pine cone and a thank you tag
• Bib Cookies & Baby Bottle Cookies
• A Naked Cake as seen in the pictures
• A Wishing Tree for guests to write advice on or a wish for the baby
• Only a couple of games so people could mingle and get to spend time with the mother to be 
• We spread out the food across the long table so that the items would repeat (multiple platters of the same item) and people didn't have to move
• Every guest was asked to include white in their attire. This really allowed the colours in the room to pop! 

Setting up the room/venue was a lot of fun, as exhausting as it was. We got creative, tried different things, and really wanted to create something that would be memorable for the mother to be.  Please do let me know what you think of the pictures below, and remember to call us to do the food at your next event! 

W.P

We just love Zucchini here at KC don't we?! You have tried my easy zucchini recipe, now try A.K's recipe for an easy zucchini curry.  We don't need to remind you how versatile zucchini can be, but we cannot help it if we love this particular style of making it! Try it out and let us know what you think. Have a great weekend folks! W.P