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Transcript

How to Host an Elegant Brunch—Made Healthy, Vegan, & High Protein/High Fiber · Blush

0:00
I want to have more friends and I want to have more fun.
0:02
Is that like embarrassing to admit?
0:04
But it's honestly, it's so true. I just redid my vision board and
0:08
so many of the things that I put on it were like fun pictures
0:12
from Pinterest of gatherings and game nights.
0:16
And I, I love hosting. I love having people over.
0:20
But it's something I don't do nearly enough, in part because
0:23
like I have two friends, but also in part because I have such
0:28
high standards for hosting and I end up spending an entire day
0:33
prepping. And honestly was the time.
0:35
So I thought it would be fun to do a series of episodes where
0:40
it's all hosting themed and I really want to practice how to
0:45
host an event without having it eat up like an entire day or
0:50
week of my life. And also I have some really
0:52
great recipe ideas so I thought it would be a fun opportunity to
0:56
put them to the test. So let's get into it.
1:14
OK, so it is brunch, so I think it's really, really important
1:19
that we have coffee, matcha, tea, all the things.
1:24
So I'm going to make a matcha real quick.
1:28
I'm using this matcha. I really like it, but the real
1:33
story here is having healthier sweeteners or options for making
1:41
almost like specialty craft kind of drinks.
1:44
So I made two types of like caramel or sweeteners.
1:48
You can call it syrup, but they're not very syrupy.
1:52
That were originally intended for coffee to be completely
1:56
honest. But I don't want to have coffee
1:59
right now, so I'm going to try it with matcha.
2:01
I think it'll work. So originally I had the idea for
2:06
a blueberry lavender date caramel, which I have right
2:09
here, which I'm about to have with the matcha.
2:12
But then I impromptu made a banana caramel, specifically a
2:18
banana bread caramel in preparation and I'm actually
2:23
obsessed with it. It's like the best thing I've
2:25
ever had. I literally have eaten half of
2:28
it just like with a spoon out of the jar.
2:30
Like I can't stop eating it it's so fucking good.
2:36
But I am going to use this for the matcha today and I'll
2:39
probably just like eat this with a spoon as we go.
2:43
OK so I used the espresso. Is it machine or maker I don't
2:48
even know to heat up and froth up some milk?
2:59
OK, it's being weird. That's fine.
3:01
Anyway, so we're going to mix it with this.
3:06
It's blueberry, lavender, vanilla, date caramel.
3:10
Now I blended this yesterday, which is actually probably like
3:17
the only thing that I do right in terms of saving time for
3:21
entertaining. So I generally try to blend all
3:25
my sauces and condiments and stuff the day before so that
3:28
it's less heavy lifting the day of.
3:30
And that's like one of the biggest tips I can give.
3:33
So this is 1 cup of the soy milk, 1 cup of of pitted medjool
3:39
dates. Again, you want to really really
3:40
pack them in. Like as many as you can get in
3:43
there. Whoopsie, I was looking at the
3:46
wrong thing, don't mind me. Still true though. 1/2 cup of
3:50
dried blueberries and not freeze dried blueberries, just like
3:55
dried blueberries. One tablespoon of vanilla
3:59
extract, 1/2 tablespoon of lavender extract, and an eighth
4:04
of it teaspoon. Like you can just like pinch
4:07
your fingers. By the way, it was a half a
4:09
teaspoon of lavender extract, not tablespoon.
4:12
I don't know which I said quite frankly and just like a little
4:15
pinch of salt. Or you can do like an eighth of
4:18
a teaspoon. I might add a little bit more
4:29
'cause I just want it to be like a little bit more pigmented.
4:35
Again, the intention for this was for coffee.
4:38
We also, I should add, I had the cutest fucking outfit planned
4:42
for this episode, but unfortunately I'm having some
4:45
crazy blow thing. Hold on, I'm actually going to
4:47
show you. OK ready.
4:50
But I have to like unzip my pants ready.
4:55
And this isn't even like I've pooped like 6 times today.
4:59
This isn't even like it's like it can get bad bad bad.
5:03
I don't know what's happening. I'm honestly just trying to not
5:06
stress about it. But so I decided to put on cozy
5:09
clothes, AKA extremely rigid structure jeans, you know?
5:15
No, but this is like nice and cozy.
5:17
And what's nice about these jeans is that they're so low
5:21
that you can kind of like be bloated above the waistband, if
5:24
that makes sense. Anyway, back to our drink.
5:31
OK, well, it's not turning like the bluish purple that I was
5:34
hoping for, but like, whatever. OK, I'm so excited for this.
5:39
Again, the original intention of this was that it would be for
5:43
coffee. Let me say that 45 more times,
5:46
but we're doing it with matcha because honestly, it's late in
5:50
the day and I don't want to have coffee right now.
5:56
Wait, this looks beautiful from the top.
6:01
Cool, cool, cool. Oh, looks pretty from the side
6:05
too, kind of. I think that is delicious.
6:18
Maybe I shouldn't be drinking this so fast, but but I really
6:21
want to. I really should slow down.
6:26
Wait, I'm making more, Not like more matcha.
6:31
That was enough matcha, but I'm just going to mix more of it.
6:38
That is so delicious. OK, I'm going to have to try
6:42
this in my coffee. Now.
6:43
Let me tell you about this one. And I think it's cool.
6:46
Originally I was just planning on doing one caramel, but I
6:49
think it's nice to have options, especially because this one is
6:52
like so niche. Like not everyone's going to
6:54
want like blueberry lavender and their coffee or matcha or tea or
6:58
whatever. Honestly, you could just like
6:59
mix it with water. It'll still be good.
7:01
You could just mix it with hot milk also and make a latte out
7:04
of that without anything else. Oh, do I have blue stuff on my
7:07
teeth? I feel like I should go check.
7:09
Hold on. OK, now let me tell you about
7:12
this. By the way, my teeth were fine,
7:16
in case you're wondering. I mean, you could see so you
7:19
knew, but they were truly fine. Even the smell of this, I die
7:24
like I'm going to lose my fucking mind.
7:25
This is so good. And The thing is, it gelled into
7:29
this like very like, I don't know, like jello moose like
7:35
texture. I've literally just been eating
7:37
it by the spoonful. So this is 1 cup of the soy
7:42
milk, 1 cup of dried bananas, 1/2 a teaspoon of cinnamon and
7:47
an eighth of a teaspoon of nutmeg, and then just an eighth
7:51
of a teaspoon of salt. Now I will say right after I
7:56
blended this, I tasted it and I was like, oh, it's too spiced.
7:59
I should have gone softer. But then once it's set in the
8:03
fridge and developed this lovely texture that I quite literally
8:06
fantasize about, the spice is perfect.
8:09
It's perfect. Also, I just want to say for
8:17
anyone who's concerned about the bloating, it did start well
8:21
before I made any of these recipes, so it's definitely not
8:24
anything we're eating here today that's causing it.
8:27
Oh my God, this is so fucking good.
8:33
Wow, this is all so good. I kind of wish I had more
8:36
matcha, but we can't be up on it, can we?
8:39
Honestly, I think the two of these pair really nicely.
8:42
And another thing that you can make.
8:44
I didn't do it, but I think one thing that you could add to
8:48
brunch, depending on how many people are coming and stuff is
8:51
chia pudding. Just like little chia pudding
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cups. And honestly you could just mix
8:57
like this milk. What I usually like to do is
8:59
half coconut water, half this milk, so like 1/2 cup of each
9:05
and then like 4 tablespoons of chia seeds.
9:07
Let it gel and then layer it in little jars and put one of these
9:12
two or both or whatever in between the layers.
9:16
Beautiful, chic, elegant. Probably should have done it
9:18
here today, but we're not going to.
9:21
And that's fine because something that I'm really trying
9:24
to like learn in terms of hosting, but honestly, life in
9:28
general is to be a little less ambitious.
9:32
And by that I mean like when I when I have people over for
9:35
dinner, I create a menu that's like 450 items.
9:39
Like you would think I'm trying to feed like the entire town.
9:43
And then of course, the day of I get super overwhelmed and a few
9:46
things go out the window. And it's still like I end up
9:50
cooking 75% of what I planned on cooking.
9:53
And it is still way too much food.
9:56
So I'm trying to learn from that lesson and be like, less is
10:01
more. We don't need this many options.
10:03
OK, one more spoonful of this and then we're going to move on
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to our next brunch item. How that should have so fucking
10:12
good. This one I don't love to have
10:14
like buy the swoon full. It's good, but it's like the
10:17
vanilla's quite pronounced, but then when it's in a drink, it's
10:22
perfect. Also, this reminds me of there
10:25
is a scene in The Real Housewives of New York, like the
10:28
original, the Vintage, where Carol and Bethany, and this is
10:32
when they were starting to have cracks in their friendship, want
10:34
somewhere for ice cream. And I think it was actually
10:37
blueberry lavender. It was something lavender and
10:40
Carol's like. What's that?
10:41
And Bethany goes, what part of it don't you get?
10:43
It was so good. And I'm very much paraphrasing.
10:48
OK, let's go do the next things. I'm so excited.
10:55
I'm so excited. OK, so it's brunch.
11:00
People traditionally drink mimosas, but AI don't make
11:04
cocktails, so let's just get that out of the way.
11:06
I've tried a few times. I'm not good at making
11:08
cocktails, doesn't fucking matter.
11:10
But I think I could make a mimosa.
11:12
I mean, I don't know, I've never done it, but I think I could do
11:16
it anyway. I thought it would be fun to do
11:18
rather than like a traditional orange juice champagne mimosa to
11:22
kind of switch it up. I have sparkling water here as a
11:25
substitute for champagne, so just ignore that.
11:30
But I thought it would be fun to do a blood orange yuzu mimosa
11:35
instead of a traditional orange juice one.
11:39
But then I saw this blood orange sea Moss gel and I was like, let
11:43
me try buying that instead of oh that's so yummy instead of just
11:50
like plain juice. You don't have to do it for a
11:53
real mimosa. I just thought I'd switch it up
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and then I have my favorite yuzu juice, so we're just going to
11:59
add a bit. And then I wasn't going to do
12:01
the sparkling water because of my gloat right now.
12:05
But I'm like, fuck it, I'm already this bloated.
12:07
Let's just lean in. I've already showed you.
12:12
I will wear this super cute outfit that I had planned for
12:15
something else, though. Now that is fucking beautiful.
12:18
The way it ombres. That's exactly, exactly, exactly
12:22
what I was hoping for. OK.
12:26
Wow, that smells so good. OK, I love that.
12:30
I'm definitely gonna have to make that for Ozzy.
12:33
He loves a beverage like he loves.
12:36
I love a hot beverage. He loves a cold beverage.
12:39
You know, I'll make it for him. OK, now let's go do the food.
12:44
OK, we've done our drinks both caffeinated and non caffeinated.
12:50
Now it's time to do our brunch sides.
12:53
And I kept these super, super simple despite, you know,
12:57
wanting to do the most. Although I will say, if you
13:01
watched the truffle ramen episode, I think that the soft
13:06
boiled eggs would work quite nicely here.
13:10
I was going to add that to the menu, but again, trying to keep
13:15
it simple. OK, so I'm just cutting up some
13:19
Kiwi berries. I just thought they were like a
13:21
cute, fun touch. But I do think a brunch just
13:25
needs some kind of fruit. You know, whatever it may be, it
13:30
needs some kind of fruit. So I'm just arranging these in
13:35
this adorable little wave bowl plate situation.
13:42
Trudi Patudi. And I'm intentionally leaving
13:46
some negative space here, and I guess I'll just eat this one.
13:52
OK, so that's one of our brunch sides.
13:55
The other one is going to be stuffed dates.
13:59
So for this I'm using whole dates rather than starting with
14:03
pitted dates. And that's because, oh wait,
14:07
these are pitted. I'm just kidding.
14:11
I genuinely thought I grabbed a pack of whole dates.
14:16
Oh well. I do think that when you're
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using, like when I do it for sauces and recipes and stuff,
14:22
I'm always going to reach for a pitted date.
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But I do think for like stuff where you're serving the dates
14:29
whole, the ones that have the pits in them are just like a bit
14:33
fresher. They tend to stay a little bit
14:36
juicier, but obviously we didn't do that.
14:39
No, I'm going to stuff these with a homemade vegan high
14:45
protein cream cheese and some chili crisp.
14:49
It is the best stuffed dates combo that you will ever have.
14:52
OK, Don't listen to these influencers out here putting
14:56
like that there in a little cacao in.
14:58
OK, Yeah, I remember my first beer.
15:02
So for this, this is another thing that I blended yesterday
15:06
in preparation. And this is another one that's
15:09
actually important to blend before because you do want it to
15:11
set in the fridge. Let me read the ingredients to
15:14
you. Hold on.
15:14
I have a bit of, like, Kiwi Berry skin in my teeth.
15:17
It's very annoying. That was probably disgusting.
15:20
I'm so sorry. OK for this.
15:23
Now, when I made it, I made a double batch.
15:27
But I'm going to read you the ingredients.
15:31
Am I OK for a single batch? So if you're watching and you're
15:37
like wait, it looks like she's adding more, it's 'cause I
15:40
doubled it. OK, so it is 1/2 cup of the Eden
15:44
food soy milk, one package, 110.9 oz package of silken tofu.
15:52
I really like that Mori new brand for stuff like this.
15:55
I just order like a six pack or a 12 pack or something and I
15:58
always have them in the cupboard 'cause they're shelf stable. 1
16:01
cup of soaked raw cashews. Now for this, what I mean is
16:06
when you pour the cashews into the bowl, when they're
16:09
completely dry, they'll be 1 cup and then you pour the hot water
16:14
on it and they tend to expand but it's One Cup when they're
16:17
dry. No one asked but I just thought
16:20
I'd clarify. 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast.
16:25
I did 2 teaspoons of lactic acid but that might be too tangy for
16:31
your average person. So I would start with one
16:34
teaspoon and then add if you want it more tangy, add 1/2
16:39
teaspoon at a time from that point.
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But one is probably right for like the average person.
16:44
But if you're kind of a Tang freak like myself, then you
16:48
might want more than that. 3 tablespoons of white miso, 2
16:54
tablespoons of refined coconut oil.
16:57
That's it. Just blended until super, super
16:59
smooth and then put it in a jar, refrigerate and it should be
17:03
like nice and thick by the next day.
17:07
So we're just going to put some of this guy in here and Moss and
17:19
a little bit more. OK, Now I'm gonna take a clean
17:24
spoon into my chili crisp. Even like the smell, just to die
17:34
for. To die for.
17:37
And then something that's really cool is I got this thing.
17:43
Bam. That way you have your stuff,
17:46
it's ready, it can sit in here and wait, and then when your
17:52
guests come, you can pull it out and you're going to feel like
17:55
you're running a cafe. Plus, like, how cute, how chic
18:00
and flies can't get in, yadda yadda yadda.
18:03
Just another little entertainment hack I'm going to
18:05
be trying out. I'm going to sprinkle on a
18:08
little dried miso salt just for aesthetic purposes.
18:14
She does not just look so much better already.
18:18
OK, I think it's time for us to taste.
18:26
I'm going to say something dramatic.
18:28
This would be in my death row meal.
18:31
It would be a part of it. It wouldn't be like the whole
18:32
thing. That would be crazy, but it
18:35
would be a part of it. I think my death row meal would
18:39
be many courses. I guess that no one ever said
18:44
how many courses it could because I'm thinking like 7.
18:48
I think 7 would be a good number.
18:49
It is my favorite number. OK, ain't much time for us to
18:59
move on to our brunch mains. And honestly, we've done this so
19:03
quickly. And it's not like I was blending
19:06
until the end of time yesterday. Like that really took like 30
19:10
minutes. We're almost done with brunch
19:12
and our main is easy. Don't think it's hard.
19:15
It's honestly easy. OK, now it's time for our main.
19:19
It might sound kind of basic and like unimpressive, but here's
19:24
the thing. I live in New York.
19:27
Bagels are, I was going to say, part of my culture.
19:31
I've literally, in these seven years that I've lived in New
19:36
York, had not one bagel. Not once have I gone to a bagel
19:43
shop. In fact, I've never had a New
19:46
York bagel. I literally never had one.
19:52
But when I was younger, I was fucking obsessed with a very
19:57
classic lox bagel. And obviously I haven't had that
20:02
in many, many years, seeing as how I don't eat lox, I don't eat
20:05
cream cheese. And as we just covered,
20:07
apparently I don't eat bagels either.
20:09
I mean, I was. Gluten free for so many years,
20:12
but I did buy these bagels I'll show them to you when we got to
20:17
the toaster bit I bought them from they're like not even a New
20:20
York bagel. I bought them from the grocery
20:22
store from the frozen section. They're gluten free and vegan,
20:25
which I eat gluten now by the way, but I just wanted bagels
20:29
that kind of like seemed healthier.
20:30
And the ingredients seem really, really good and they're and
20:34
they're like one of those really thin ones.
20:35
So they're actually quite light. But that's neither here nor
20:38
there anyway, so we've already covered our cream cheese.
20:41
I read you the ingredients. I've tried a million different
20:46
ways to do like a locks situation.
20:50
I've tried the carrot locks that people love.
20:52
Not for me. I tried this.
20:56
I'm very curious to see how it is.
20:58
It's basically like papaya locks or smoked papaya.
21:03
So what I did was I took a veggie peeler and I first peeled
21:08
the papaya and then I peeled it into like thin ribbons and then
21:14
the marinade is miso. I did about like it was maybe
21:18
like 1/2 a cup of miso is whatever was left in the jar and
21:21
I just mixed that with water. And then I added these like Dole
21:26
sleeves in here to give it the fishy taste.
21:30
And I think it's flaxseed oil with DHA and EPA in it.
21:35
So it has the Omega threes, the actual Omega threes that salmon
21:40
eats and gets the fishy taste from.
21:43
So that's all the oily stuff you're seeing in here.
21:46
And that like, not only adds like the fattiness of fish, but
21:50
also the fishy flavor and the same nutrients and then just a
21:57
few drops of liquid smoke to get it smoky.
22:00
So let's give this a try. I'm hella, hella curious to see
22:07
how this is OK. Would I think it's salmon?
22:16
No, like in no universe would I think that this is salmon, but
22:23
it's like really fishy and smoky and it like it hits the spot, if
22:28
that makes sense. Let's see how it is with the
22:32
whole accoutrement. So I'm just going to move this
22:36
and we'll see how we're going to style it.
22:38
I brought out capers and caper berries, but honestly I don't
22:42
think I'm going to use either because personally not my vibe.
22:46
I I mean, no, I like a caper. Maybe I'll add some capers.
22:49
I don't know, we'll see that. Also that papaya didn't turn out
22:52
like nearly as salty as I thought.
22:54
I've done it before with tamari in there too, and I do think
22:59
it's better that way, but it just like it gets darker.
23:03
So, you know, aesthetics, flavor, aesthetic, flavor, you
23:08
got to choose. But I do think adding a little
23:10
bit of tamari makes it nice. So I'm just chopping up these
23:14
tomatoes 'cause I do like tomatoes with my lox bagel.
23:18
God, one time when I went to college.
23:21
Actually, I'm just going to leave these here for now 'cause
23:23
I don't know how I'm going to plate things yet.
23:26
When I went to college, I went to College in a really small
23:28
town. Hold on, let's have a sip of
23:30
this. I'm so pleased with how this
23:32
looks by the way. So I went to College in a really
23:35
small town in Southern Virginia and at the time like there
23:38
really was nothing like you couldn't get like a like lox was
23:41
unheard of. Like you could not get a lox
23:43
bagel. Like you really couldn't get
23:44
access to things that are like pretty simple when you think
23:48
about it. But that's neither here nor
23:50
there. Also couldn't get access to non
23:53
racist people in the South unfortunately.
23:59
Anyway. I mean I'm kidding like it was
24:01
it wasn't overtly racist but like we didn't have the language
24:05
of microaggressions and stuff back then.
24:08
Neither here nor there. Anyway, so I come home for a
24:13
break 1 semester and I'm like exhausted.
24:15
I've just finished finals, yadda yadda yadda.
24:18
And I'm so fucking excited to get my lox bagel.
24:21
So I, oh, I don't even like go to a store to get it.
24:24
Like I, my mom bought, I used to love the Costco smoked salmon.
24:29
I always thought it was like the best smoked salmon.
24:30
So my mom got like bagels and smoked salmon and all the things
24:33
for me, right. So I make my lox bagel.
24:35
I like to have an open face so you get like twice as much.
24:40
So I have an open face and I have like the bagel, cream
24:43
cheese, tomato locks on top. And I set it down for like A
24:50
LEXA just chimed in. That's why I stopped talking.
24:55
OK so I set it down for a second to like go grab a drink or
24:59
something and I like put on my favorite TV show like it's about
25:02
to be like the best 30 minutes of my life.
25:04
I come back, my parents little shit ass little dog jumped on
25:10
the couch, pulled all the salmon off of my lox bagel, left the
25:15
rest of it. I was so my mom loves laughing
25:19
at that story. I was like irate, like I lost my
25:22
fucking shit. Right.
25:24
I think Oh, and these are just those like flash pickled little
25:27
onions that we have from oh from the Persian New Year's episode.
25:31
It's literally like the same jar and I have some dill because it
25:35
pairs nicely and also like aesthetics.
25:38
OK, I'm going to go grab the bagels and let's toast and let's
25:42
get the show on the road. OK.
25:44
These are the bagels, by the way.
25:47
I haven't had them yet. They're oh, Joe's Thins.
25:50
I don't know. We'll see.
25:53
I mean, the ingredients look really good.
25:55
So it's potato starch, tapioca starch, chickpea flour, soy
26:00
flour. I want it, like, really crispy.
26:04
Yeah, there's like, flaxseed and there's like, some whatever
26:08
ingredients. But at the end of the day, it
26:11
has a good amount of protein and a great amount of fiber, like 5
26:15
grams of fiber. Serving size is 2 bagels,
26:19
actually. Whatever.
26:21
Let's toast this guy. I'll be honest.
26:24
Like they haven't, you know, I'll be honest if it's good or
26:28
not. Yeah, OK, let's assemble this
26:35
shit. I'm so excited to eat this.
26:43
Also, I got the everything ones cause like they're cute and
26:48
stuff, but that was never my favorite bagel.
26:51
Actually, I'm going to say something kind of blasphemous.
26:53
My favorite bagel was always a plain bagel.
26:57
OK, can't even see the hole anymore.
26:59
That's great. Some dill.
27:07
I'm going to add on a little bit of this Crystallized show you
27:11
then. I think this guy lives like this
27:14
just for aesthetic purposes. Maybe we bring some of these
27:19
guys in here and that's how we played it.
27:23
Do we like that? I think it's cutie.
27:29
Yeah, that's cute, right? That does really kind of look
27:34
like a Lox Spiegel, doesn't it? Oh, I forgot.
27:41
OK, I think it's time for us to eat it.
27:44
I am going to have just the half at a time.
27:53
Me traces by itself. Oh yeah, OK, this does have a
28:00
bagel Y vibe. It's not my favorite.
28:03
I would honestly get like a real bagel.
28:06
Or if you want a gluten free bagel, Need Love Bakery KNEAD
28:12
Need love makes a really, really good sourdough gluten free
28:16
bagel. But this is definitely good in a
28:19
pinch, especially if you're like tracking macros and stuff like
28:22
that. It's pretty good for that.
28:28
OK, the papaya plain is one thing, but when the papaya is
28:33
combined with everything else, I would never think it's papaya.
28:38
I'm not saying I would think it's salmon, but I definitely
28:42
wouldn't think it's papaya. I was just really good.
28:46
Honestly, I think if it were to marinate for longer the papaya,
28:50
I think it would have more of a loxy vibe, especially if there's
28:55
more oil. That is insane.
29:00
Yeah. OK.
29:01
I like this a lot. I mean, you can tell I like it a
29:05
lot because I'm not even talking and I'm just eating.
29:08
I really didn't anticipate eating the entire thing.
29:10
Right now. We're going to shop.
29:14
OK, I need to go. Like, I need to go eat.
29:19
Make some of this stuff. If there's one thing you should
29:22
make, it's that fucking banana bread caramel.
29:25
I'm telling you, I've been having it in my coffee in the
29:27
morning. It's the best one I've ever
29:29
made. It's so fucking good.
29:31
OK, that's it. Love you.
29:33
Hope you enjoyed this episode. Bye. energy from that.
29:43
Yum. I think my teeth are blue.