If you’ve ever travelled to the Caribbean, hopefully you’ve taken the chance and tried one of their more unique meats – conch. I’ve had it in fritters in Key West, I’ve had it as a marinated piece of meat in St. Thomas, but until now, I had never tried conch chowder.

Now, I have no idea if canned conch is regularly stocked in stores, but quite a while back I noticed a local market had it stocked, so I picked up a can (I now know that Amazon carries it). And then it sat in my basement stores. For a while. So long, that just this past week I realized I had a few months left to eat it, otherwise, it would be headed for the trash. So peruse my cookbooks I did, and conch chowder I decided upon. (more…)

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Caribbean, Dinner, Soups, Wine pairings by Courtney

Looking for a dinner that transports you to the Caribbean, warms you up like comfort food, and is still healthy? Yeah, I didn’t think so — that would be an odd request to make of dinner. But, even if you weren’t looking, it’s a great feeling to have, and it’s exactly what Post Punk Kitchen’s Curried Black Eyed Peas delivers.

I’ve read about her book, Appetite for Reduction: 125 Fast and Filling Low-Fat Vegan Recipes, a couple of places, and I was intrigued. I’m the furthest thing you can find from a vegan, but once in a blue moon on accident I’ll make something vegan, and I like it. So it’s been an area I’ve thought about dabbling in. I just get scared off by recipes that include nutritional yeast and tempeh.

One day a friend of mine mentioned she had been using this cookbook and loved it, but then she pointed me toward the site. I spent the better half of the day trying to decide what I would cook that night. Did I want to go crazy and throw “gluten free” in the mix? Well, that’s what I ended up doing. (more…)

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Caribbean, Dairy free, Dinner, Gluten free, Lunch, Vegan, Vegetarian, World traveller by Courtney

I’ll have to admit, when I first received the Morgan Freeman and Friends |Caribbean Cooking for a Cause cookbook, I was disappointed. I had seen him on one of the morning shows, promoting the book, and I had expected the book to be packed with recipes from islanders themselves. When I got the book, it was more about fancy hotels’ restaurants, and less about the simple island cooking, so it sat on my bookshelf for quite a while.

After a while, I started trying some of the recipes, though. First, a simple recipe, more like what I thought the book should be featuring, Pasta, Smoked Fish, and Cream. Then I ventured out a bit more and tried the Ital Soup. Then I decided to go the uber-fancy route, and make Chicken and Shrimp in a Pineapple Pontoon (a huge hit with my hubby, with an inspiring combination of flavors – orange and star anise… mmmm!). (more…)

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Cookbook Review by Courtney

A while back, I mentioned I would give you some ideas of what to do with all of that vegetable stock you made from kitchen scraps. One idea that is perfect for this time of year is what I have dubbed Caribbean soup. Actually, the recipe comes from a cookbook I purchased a while back called Morgan Freeman & Friends | Caribbean Cooking for a Cause. The recipe is from Chef Christopher Walker, and it is so amazingly good and hearty that I never would have thought about it being vegan, but it is! And it’s perfect for this time of year, because as football comes on I yearn for heavier fare, but it’s still so warm that I don’t want chili just yet. So a spicy Caribbean soup fills this change of seasons just perfectly. (more…)

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Caribbean, Dairy free, Dinner, Gluten free, Soups, Vegan, Vegetarian, World traveller by Courtney