Easy Vegetarian Chili

This is a recipe I came up with a few years back, and is something I have made consistently each winter. This recipe makes a huge batch, probably about 6-8 servings worth of chili. But it freezes well and makes for the perfect meal after a cold winter day. Forgive me if the measurements of spices aren't just exact. I usually just throw spices in until it tastes good, and I would recommend you do the same.

Ingredients

2 cans of diced tomatoes

1 can of tomato paste

1 can of red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 can of white kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 green pepper, seeded and chopped roughly

1 or 2 fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped

1/2 of a medium sized onion, roughly chopped

6-8 white button mushrooms, roughly chopped

1 tbsp of minced garlic (about 2-3 cloves)

A pinch of dried chili flakes

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1-2 tbsp chili powder (or more, depending on how spicy you like it)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. In a large pot, add the diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir until blended.
2. Add the vegetables and garlic. Stir.
3. Add the cayenne pepper, chili flakes, chili powder, and salt and pepper. Stir until nicely blended.
4. Simmer over medium heat for at least an hour, until green peppers are soft and the chili is a deep red colour.
5. Serve!!

Also, you can always start low on the spice level, and add more spices as you go along. I like to taste the chili as it's simmering, and I add spices as needed.

To freeze, separate 1-serving portions into Tupperware containers. Put into fridge to cool and then transfer to freezer (this helps reduce freezer burn). To defrost frozen chili, either use the microwave or put into a pot and heat gradually. Whatever you prefer.

Enjoy!

Some food for thought

Here's an article that Rob wrote that was recently published in Wilfrid Laurier University's Blueprint magazine. It's a sort of guide to learning how to read (or not) into all those fancy words you see in grocery stores - "organic", "natural", etc... I found it interesting and hope you do too!

Read the article here.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Salad

This is a recipe that Rob found on YouTube, and admittedly, Rob cooked it and not me.

Ingredients

3 or 4 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

1/2 red onion, roughly chopped

1 cup chopped cilantro *fresh*

1 red pepper, roughly chopped (optional)

1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained.

2 limes, juiced

3 tbsp olive oil

1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Toss chopped potatoes and onions with a bit of oil. Place on baking sheet and roast for 30 minutes (or until you can pierce the potatoes with a fork).

3. Meanwhile, put lime juice, olive oil, and jalapeños into a blender and blend until smooth.

4. When potatoes and onions are done, let the cool.

5. Add potatoes, onions, red peppers, beans cilantro, and the lime mixture to a bowl.

6. Season with salt and pepper and toss.

This salad tastes better after it has been refrigerated for a few hours, but it is very tasty!! If you are not a fan of cilantro (like me), you can use it sparingly until it meets your tastes.

Butternut Squash and Sage Soup

This is a variant on the Sage and Squash Pasta recipe I posted a while ago.

To make the pasta sauce, you heat up some sage in some oil or butter, add about 1.5 cups of mashed squash, and puree it. Then toss in your favourite pasta and voila!

Here's how you make the soup!

Ingredients

2 cups of squash (cooked and mashed)

2 tsp of sage (dried or fresh)

2 tbsp butter or oil

Some veggie broth

Directions

1. Heat up butter/oil in the pan and add sage.

2. Add squash to pot and stir.

3. Add a bit of broth.

4. Puree with a hand blender.

5. Add more broth until the soup is the desired texture.

This soup is the most delicious!! My favourite, especially in winter.

Borscht!

My family a few generations back was Ukrainian, and they moved to the Canadian Prairies in the early 1900s (where many Eastern Europeans settled!) Some of the culture has been passed on, and while unfortunately for me as a linguist none of that culture involved language, I am very thankful that most of that culture involved FOOD!

I've already posted my grandmother's recipe for pierogies, so here's a variation on her borscht (beet stew!!) Admittedly, Rob and I winged it without a recipe or without talking to Grandma Stella, so I was going on instinct alone... but it turned out well!

Ingredients

2 tbsp butter

1 large white onion, sliced and chopped (we made ours into half-rings)

1 stalk of celery, chopped

6 cups of broth (veggie, chicken, beef, whatever!)

4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed

10 medium beets, peeled and cubed

1/2 can of kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1/4 head of cabbage, shredded

1 tbsp of dill, chopped

salt and pepper

Directions

1. In a large pot, heat butter on medium heat and add onions and celery. Season with salt and pepper, and cook on medium-low heat until onions are transparent.
2. Add in the broth, potatoes, beets, and beans. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or so.
4. Add in cabbage and dill.
5. Simmer for another 30-40 minutes. Just taste it along the way until you think the taste is right.
6. Serve with a dollop of sour cream.

I'm not sure I would change much about this recipe. Carrots might be a welcome addition, if sauteed with the onion and celery at the beginning. Other than that, I really enjoyed the recipe! And so did Rob. hahaha.

The Perfect Peanut Pad Thai

Rob went away for the weekend, so I spent my time entertaining myself... I knit 2 neck cowls, an iPod sleeve, and am halfway through a case for my laptop cords. I also made my own Chai tea syrup, and my most recent triumph is the perfect Pad Thai.

There's a restaurant in Waterloo called Rain Tree Cafe, and I am obsessed (trust me, it's the only appropriate word for my love of this dish) with their Peanut Pad Thai. The sauce is spicy, creamy, peanut-y, and has this magic way of getting more delicious the more you eat it. You really should try it. Check out their website: http://www.raintreecafe.ca/index.html .

Ever since the first day I tasted it, I have been on a quest to find a comparable dish. I've tried about 10 different recipes and ordered it in at least that many restaurants, but to no avail. Nothing could be done to replicate the perfect deliciousity (I know it's not a word, but I'm a linguist and we're pretty much trained to make up new words!) of Rain Tree Cafe's Stirfry Pad Thai.

Until now. (cue triumphant music)

I was trying to think of what to make for dinner. We had bok choy in the fridge that needed to be used up. What had bok choy in it? RAIN TREE'S PAD THAI, that's what! But to go with it, I needed to make the perfect simple peanut sauce with what we had in the fridge. So, I Googled "simple peanut sauce" and it took me to this website and voila! I had almost all of those ingredients.

Here's the recipe the way that I cooked it.

Ingredients

1/2 cup hot water

1/3 cup peanut butter

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

1/2 tsp salt (I didn't have any soya sauce, or else I would have used that, as per the recipe)

1 heaping tbsp diced garlic (from a jar)

1 heaping tbsp diced ginger (from a jar)

1/2 tsp of hot sauce

Directions

1. Mix all of the ingredients together.
2. Pour over stir-fried vegetables and/or noodles.
3. Prepare yourself to enjoy the simplest, most delicious sauce you have ever eaten.
4. Eat it.

I will need to do some tweaking - maybe more hot sauce, more ginger... Or maybe trying fresh ginger and fresh garlic. But this is pretty damn close to the deliciousness that they serve over at Rain Tree.

Try it out and let me know how you enjoy it!!

DIY Chai Tea Latte

So, for those of you who know me well, you can easily name my favourite coffee drink- Non-Fat Chai Latte. Starbucks sells a concentrated Chai syrup that you can buy, so that you can make your own Chai Lattes at home (just add equal parts Chai syrup and milk, warm, and serve!) I recently bought this syrup, and while I enjoyed having a delicious Chai Latte at home, I'm not totally thrilled about paying nearly $9 for a 1 litre carton.

So I thought about how I would make my own Chai syrup. Having made my own Chai tea before, I knew it couldn't be too hard. So I Googled it (and those who know me well also know that I Google often!), and sure enough, it just required one extra step!

So here's my recipe for a delicious Chai Tea, and how to make it into a latte!

Ingredients

3 cups cold water

4 black tea bags (pick your favourite - I use orange pekoe)

3 cinnamon sticks

1 tsp ground ginger

4 whole cloves

4 cardamom pods

2/3 cup sugar (brown or white, whatever you have!)

milk (to make the latte)

Directions

1. In a small pot, add water, tea bags, cinnamon, and ginger to the pot.
2. Put the cardamom and cloves into a tea ball, and add the tea ball to the pot. If you don't have a tea ball, you can drop the spices into the pot. The tea ball is a personal preference. It stops little bits of the cloves and cardamom pods from getting into the tea mixture.
3. Bring the water and spices to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer. If you're making tea, remove the pot from heat, strain tea bags and spices, and serve once tea reaches desired strength. If you're making the latte, simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Remove tea bags, spices, and tea ball. Stir in the sugar.
5. Add syrup to milk (1/3 syrup to 2/3 milk; or 1/2 and 1/2). Refrigerate remaining syrup in an airtight container for about a month.

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

This blog is all about trial and error. Often the first time I try a recipe, it just doesn't turn out the way I want it to. So I document it on this blog, with my notes and suggestions. This is not only for you to be able to learn from my mistakes, but for myself as well. So the next time I try the recipe, I can change it until it's perfected.

For example, Rob and I have perfected the Squash and Sage Pasta recipe.

Now we've just tried one for Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie, and it was far from perfect... but that's what cooking is all about, and I look forward to tweaking the recipe the next time I try it!!

Ingredients

1 can of beans (kidney or black beans or whatever you'd like!)

1/2 can of tomato paste

1/3 cup of vegetable broth

1 tbsp diced garlic

1 cup of corn niblets (Rob and I used fresh corn that we had recently frozen!)

10-12 small potatoes

salt and pepper

grated cheese (optional)

chopped green onion (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. Boil and mash your potatoes using your favourite recipe. Some people add butter, some add milk, and some add both. Mash 'em however you prefer!
3. Meanwhile, drain and rinse your beans. Put the beans, garlic, tomato paste, and broth into a saucepan. Season with salt and pepper and stir until paste and broth are blended.
4. Simmer the bean mixture until it thickens.
5. Spread the bean mixture into a square baking dish. Rob and I used a 9x9 pyrex baking dish.
6. Spread the corn niblets on top of the bean mixture.
7. Top with the mashed potatoes. If you opted for the grated cheese and green onion, sprinkle these on the top of the pie.
8. Bake for about 20 minutes. Broil for a minute or two at the end to brown the top.
9. Cool for a few minutes before serving.

Notes

This recipe wasn't as successful as we would've liked... Here's what we thought:

• The bean mixture was a little bland. Be sure to season it well. Next time, we will add some sauteed onions and possibly some chili powder. Also, maybe use some garlic powder instead of fresh diced garlic. Rob suggests preparing the bottom layer as if it was chili.
• I would add more than corn to the middle layer. Maybe some peas and carrots to add flavour.
• The cheese and onion mixture on top needed to be browned in order to have an impact. When we prepared it, the cheese was simply melted and bubbly which didn't add much to the overall flavour. Next time, I would either make sure the cheese was lightly browned and slightly crispy or I would leave it out altogether.

Even after all those suggestions, I think this recipe has potential to be a family favourite. It's all about experimenting with the seasonings and ingredients to make it your own.

Lemon Sage Chicken

So today I was looking in the fridge and thinking about what I was going to make for dinner. Zucchini... potatoes... cucumber... lemon... sage... chicken. So I googled "Lemon Sage Chicken" and came up with a ton of different responses. My favourite was the following recipe from Good Housekeeping. This is the original recipe, but keep in mind that I altered it to make one serving since I was only cooking for one!

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts

Salt and pepper

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup reduced sodium chicken broth

1/3 cup white wine

1 tsp grated lemon zest

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp chopped parsely

1 tsp chopped fresh sage

1 tbsp cold margerine

Directions

1. Butterfly your chicken breasts. Between two pieces of plastic wrap, hammer the meat until it is 1/2 thick.
2. Season both sides of each breast with salt and pepper.
3. In a pan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken breasts and cook until chicken is no longer pink throughout.
4. Set chicken aside and cover with foil.
5. Add chicken broth and white wine to skillet. Simmer until sauce is reduced by half.
6. Stir in lemon zest, lemon juice, sage, and parsely.
7. Remove skillet from heat and stir in cold margarine.
8. Drizzle sauce over chicken and serve.

Notes

As I mentioned before, I altered this recipe to fit one serving. Also, I didn't have parsely, so I left it out. I also substituted veggie broth for chicken broth, because I didn't have chicken broth.

A few tips...

• Don't use white wine that is too sweet.
• I continued to reduce the sauce after I added the sage and lemon because the sauce was really thin and I wanted it to thicken up. Looking back, I wouldn't have reduced it for so long because the sauce became too sweet.
• Don't use too much lemon juice - it will overpower the sage.

I really liked this recipe otherwise, and would definitely make it again with the aforementioned alterations!

The Pierogy House

So it's been a while since my last post... My apologies, but I went for most of the summer without an oven or a stove! (Long story... don't ask!)

So this next recipe isn't a new one, but it's one of my favourites. As a child, I would go visit my great-grandma, a Ukrainian-Canadian, and we would spend the entire day making pierogies, hundreds of them! Grandma Stella's favourite memory of our pierogy-making days is a day when I posted a sign on her front door that read: "The Pierogy House".

So here's my Grandma Stella's recipe for pierogies with potato and cheese stuffing, and her famous sauekraut stuffed pierogies!

**Disclaimer: This recipe isn't going to have any specific amounts. Grandma Stella cooks from memory, and when I asked her for exact amounts, she said "Just enough of each that it seems right". So I will try to explain what "right" feels and looks like. **

Potato and Cheese Filling

Ingredients

Potatoes

Grated cheddar cheese

1 medium white onion

Butter or margerine

Directions

1. Boil a pot of water.
2. Peel and cube the potatoes and add to the boiling water. Boil until soft.
3. Meanwhile, heat butter in a frying pan on medium-low.
4. Dice the onion and add to the butter.
5. Sautee the onions until soft and transparent. Be sure not to carmelize them.
6. Drain the potatoes and put back into the pot. Mash the potatoes.
7. Add the onions.
8. Add the grated cheese. If you're using cheddar, the potato and cheese mixture should be a soft orange colour. My best advice would be to taste it and see if you like it!

Sauerkraut Filling

Ingredients

Sauerkraut

1 medium white onion

White mushrooms

Directions

1. Chop the onion and sautee in a deep frying pan on low, just until transparent and soft.
2. Chop the mushrooms and add to the frying pan with onions. Sautee until soft.
3. Meanwhile, put the sauerkraut in a strainer and rinse it. Add it to the mushroom and onion mixture.
4. Stir on medium-low until the juices in the pan start to evaporate.

The Dough

Ingredients

Flour

Water

Vegetable Oil

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine flour with a bit of water and a dash (about 1 tsp) of oil.
2. Mix with your hands. The dough is "right" when it no longer sticks to the side of the bowl.
3. Flour your counter or flat surface, or wherever you plan to roll the dough.
4. With a rolling pin, roll the dough until it's about 1/4 to 1/2 centimetre thick. **Hint - flour your rolling pin before rolling to prevent sticking**.
5. Using a cup or a round cookie cutter, cut a circle about 10 cm in diameter out of the dough.
6. Add a tablespoon of your filling to the center of the circle, leaving a centimetre rim around the edges.
7. Fold the dough in half to create a half-circle and pinch around the edges tightly, ensuring a tight seam.
8. Set your finished pierogy on a flat surface between two tea towels.
9. Continue making your pierogies. If you run out of dough, make some more! If you run out of filling but still have dough, you can freeze the extra dough.

So now you've made all of your pierogies. If you are eating them immediately, put them into a pot of boiling water for just a few minutes!

If you plan to freeze them, you need to flash freeze them to prevent the dough from sticking together. Don't know how to flash freeze? Here's what you do:

1. Clear some space in your freezer!
2. Lightly flour some cookie sheets.
3. Lay your pierogies out of the cookie sheet, making sure none of them are touching.
4. Cover them with a tea towel and put them in the freezer.
5. Once they're frozen, you can put them in a ziploc bag.

Unfortunately, I couldn't tell you how many this will make... sometimes you'll make 3 dozen, or like the last time Rob and I made them, you may end up with 9 dozen or more!

So good luck, and I promise you, it's not as complicated as it sounds. Grab a friend and soon enough you can have your own Pierogy House on the go!

Spicy Black Bean Gazpacho

After a long hiatus and a 5-week trip to Europe, I'm back!

While Rob and I were in Europe, we collected a list of recipes to try when we get back, some inspired by the food we are while we were there, and some not. The following recipe is one I have made before, but never got around to blogging about!

Ingredients:

1 red pepper, seeded and chopped

4 green onions, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 or 2 jalapeno peppers (depending on how spicy you'd like), seeded and chopped

3 tomatoes, chopped

1 540 ml can of tomato juice

1 540 ml can of black beans

2-3 tbsp of red wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Put red pepper, green onion, garlic, and jalapenos into food processor. Blend until finely chopped.
2. Add tomatoes and blend until smooth.
3. Stir in the tomato juice, black beans, and vinegar.
4. Season to taste.
5. Serve ice cold.

This recipe is really refreshing, but I did make a few small changes to it. I like to add a bit of cucumber (peeled and chopped) into this recipe. You can also use coriander to season it, or add some tabasco sauce for a bit more bite.

A refreshing meal for hot summer days!

Grilled Pineapple Salad

This is my first post in a while, but I've been a busy lady! 

Here's another delicious recipe from chef Michael Smith's show, Chef at Home.  It's a grilled pineapple salad accented with grilled onions and mint.

Ingredients:

1 whole pineapple

2 large red onions

1 red pepper

1 cup of fresh mint, diced

zest and juice of 1 lemon

salt and pepper

3 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat your grill.
2. Slice pineapple into rings, about 1 inch thick.
3. Slice onion into rings, about 1/2 inch thick.
4. Cut the red pepper into quarters and remove the seeds.
5. Brush the pineapple, onion, and red pepper with olive oil.
6. Season with salt and pepper.
7. Place the pineapple, onion, and red pepper on the grill. 
8. Grill the pineapple for 5 minutes per side, and the onions and peppers until soft.
9. Chop the pineapple, onions, and red peppers until 1 inch sections.
10. Toss the grilled stuff in with the lemon juice, lemon zest, and mint. 
11. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Let me say, this is a DELICIOUS salad. When the pineapples are grilled, the sugars carmelize, as do the sugars in the onions and the peppers. The mint and lemon dressing is really fresh and light. It would be the perfect thing to bring to a backyard BBQ this summer... and it would go perfectly with a nice tropical drink!

Squash and Sage Pasta

This recipe was passed along by a good friend of mine, someone who knows so much more about food than me! Mercy knows a ton about food and also believes in cooking using only fresh, organic ingredients, especially when she's cooking for her two young children. So when she passed this recipe to me and said she cooked it for her kids, I knew I had to try it!

Right off the bat, I had to make a few alterations to it, simply because we didn't have the main ingredient - frozen pumpkin- in the house! First, I'll present the recipe as Mercy gave it to me. Then I'll post the recipe with my own alterations.

Ingredients:

Frozen squash (one 10oz bag for every 2 people).

Fresh or dried sage (at least 2 tbsp)

4 tbsp olive oil

4 tbsp butter

Cooked pasta (bowties or penne)

Directions:

 

1. Cook the squash in a pan with  2 tbsp olive oil and 2 tbsp of butter.
   
2. Set aside in a dish.
   
3. Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil and 2 tbsp of butter in a pan.
4. Add in the sage and cook until the aromas are released.
5. Add in the squash mixture to sage. Stir to combine.
6. Toss the cooked pasta into the sauce mixture.
7. Salt and pepper to taste.

Now, as I mentioned, we didn't have frozen squash, so we had to change it up a little bit. Here's my interpretation of the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 fresh squash 

Fresh sage (at least 2 tbsp)

4 tbsp olive oil

4 tbsp butter

1 cup half and half cream

Cooked pasta - I used fresh ravioli stuffed with basil and romano cheese.

Directions:

1.  Cube the squash.
   
2. Set inside a microwavable bowl, half full with water.
3. Microwave on high for about 10 minutes, or until squash is soft enough to pierce with a fork.
4. Put the squash in a deep pan or wok with  2 tbsp olive oil and 2 tbsp of butter. 
   
5. Stir on medium heat while lightly mashing the squash.
6. Puree squash in a food processor. 
7. Set aside in a dish.
   
8. Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil and 2 tbsp of butter in a pan.
9. Add in the sage and cook until the aromas are released.
10. Add in the squash mixture to sage. Stir to combine.
11. Fold in the cream and stir to combine.
12. Salt and pepper to taste.
13. Toss the cooked pasta into the sauce mixture.

So essentially, the recipes are the same, with just a few alterations. 

Another change I would make next time is to use only 1/2 cup of cream, and use 1/2 to 3/4 cup of vegetable broth to thin the sauce a bit. The sauce came out really thick!

However, I would definitely NOT change the combination of the sage, butter, and squash... It was so sweet and so flavourful! This is definitely going to become a staple recipe. 

What do you really know about food?

To my delight, the latest edition of Carleton's Alumni magazine came to me in the mail, and it was all about FOOD! The lead headline on the front cover read, "What's for dinner... is it safe?". The magazine touched on a number of issues, from the global food crisis, to fast food, to how children's food is marketed. All around, it was a great read, cover to cover. 

There was one quote in particular that really struck me. From the headlining article "What's for dinner... is it safe?", Professor Louise Heslop of the Sprott School of Business said, "We stopped cooking and now we know nothing about food preparation. We don't understand food anymore because life changed." Heslop goes on to discuss the reasons why we've lost touch with our food - households with multiple careers, and mainly the fact that our lifestyle is one that demands convenience. Furthermore, Professor Heslop reiterates that we often have no clue where our food comes from or what processes it went through to get to our dinner tables. Think about it - how many preservatives do you think is in that microwavable meatloaf that you see advertised on TV? Where did the meat come from? What sort of processes has it gone through to ensure that it stays preserved? In the past, we used to grow our own food in the garden, so we were well-aware of where the food came from. Can you tell me where the apple you ate at lunch was grown? What about the hamburger you ordered from that restaurant on the weekend? 

My goal with this blog is to help educate myself about food and its preparation. It is so important to be aware of what you eat and how it's prepared. That's not to say that I don't indulge in some KD every now and then (talk about processed food!), but my goal isn't to cut that stuff out immediately. My goal is to take a ride on the learning curve, and slowly ease myself into understanding food and appreciating it for its natural, unprocessed goodness. 

So next time you're thinking about dinner, think about making something yourself using local, organic produce, and minimizing the amount of pre-made ingredients. Whether it's a psychological phenomenon or what, food that you've made yourself tastes so much better. Give it a try and let me know how it works out!

Easy Antojitos!

The other weekend (forgive me for the late post!) Rob and I tested out a recipe for antojitos, which I got from foodtv.ca. It's a recipe by Christine Cushing, from an episode entitled "Student Food". Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained

2 cloves of garlic, minced

8 flour tortillas

1 avocado, sliced

3 roasted red peppers, sliced

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

juice of 1 lime

1 cup of grated cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Mash beans with a fork or potato masher. 

2. Add garlic, lime juice, and spices.

3. Salt and pepper to taste.

4. Spread black bean mix evenly onto the tortillas.

5. Sprinkle with avocado, roasted red pepper, and cheese.

6. Roll and slice into 1 inch pieces.

Rob and I thought these would be better baked for a little while. I also found that maybe there was too much cheese. (I know, can there ever really be too much cheese!?).

The lime juice added a nice kick to the black bean mix. Maybe some diced jalapenos woud be good too?

This was an easy recipe, and is pretty healthy (much healthier if you leave out the cheese... but really, who does that? hahaha)

Enjoy!

Quinoa Colour Salad

I was at the gym on Friday and was watching Chef At Home, like I always do when I work out. Chef Michael Smith was doing an episode on healthy alternatives. He made a meatloaf with ground turkey instead of ground beef, an apple pie with whole wheat flour and oats crust (instead of lard and white flour!), and a quinoa salad. 

For those who don't know about it, quinoa (pronounced "kee-no-ah" or "keen-wah") is a grain that orginates in the Andes of South America. It cooks similarly to rice and looks just like couscous, but is packed with WAY more nutrients. Check this out:

Per 45 gram serving (cooked quinoa on its own):

180 calories

3.5 grams of fat (0 saturated, 0 trans fat)

7 grams of protein (This is phenomenal for all you vegetarian types!!!)

7% of recommended daily intake of Potassium

4% Vitamin A

2% Calcium

15% Iron (More awesome-ness for vegetarians!)

20% Vitamin E

6& Vitamin B1

15% Vitamin B2

8% Folate (the "pregnancy" vitamin!)

20% Phosphorus

25% Magnesium

20% Zinc (awesome for fighting colds)

Anyway, after seeing all this nutritional content, I decided to try out the Quinoa Colour Salad recipe - called so because it has so many colourful veggies in it! I'll save the whole wheat and oats apple pie for another time!

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa

1 carrot, peeled and grated

1 red pepper, seeded and diced

3 green onions, sliced thinly

1 cucumber, chopped

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

1/4 cup olive oil

salt

pepper

Directions:

1. Rinse quinoa in cold water. It washes off the bitter coating that naturally covers the grain.

2. Cook as directed on package.

3. In the meantime, add all of your veggies to a bowl.

4. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice.

5. When the quinoa is done, fluff with a fork and add to veggies and lemon.

6. Add olive oil.

7. Salt and pepper to taste.

8. Toss well.

Notes:

You can serve this warm or cold. I tried it warm, and I think I would prefer it cold. 

The original recipe calls for fresh parsely, diced. I might add that next time, but I forgot to pick it up when I was at the grocery store. 

I might add some more veggies - tomatoes, seeded and chopped, would be great. Or sundried tomatoes... mmmm...

As an alternative to the olive oil, you could add a low-fat, oil-based salad dressing to season the salad.

Otherwise, the original recipe is pretty damn good.  Thumbs up!

Mushroom Cheddar Vegetarian Burgers

Rob and I tried out a veggie burger recipe this weekend, and we were pleasantly surprised! It was really easy, and the mess was minimal!!

The recipe is by Elizabeth Baird from Canadian Living Cooks. I found it online at www.foodtv.ca. (my favourite source for recipes!)

Mushroom Cheddar Vegetarian Burgers

Yield:  4 

INGREDIENTS:

2 tsp vegetable oil

1small onion, grated

1 1/2 cup finely chopped mushroom

1/2 tsp dried Italian herb seasoning

1 x 19 oz can white kidney beans, drained, and, rinsed

1 egg, yolk, lightly, beaten

2 tbsp dry breadcrumbs

1/4 tsp pepper

3 oz old cheddar cheese, sliced

4 lettuce leaf

4 whole wheat pita, breads

DIRECTIONS:

1. In nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat; cook onion, mushrooms and Italian seasoning; stirring, for about 8 minutes or until mixture is just starting to brown and liquid is evaporated. Let cool slightly.
   
2. In bowl, mash kidney beans with fork. Add mushroom mixture, egg yolk, bread crumbs and pepper; mix well. Shape into four 1/2 inch (1 cm) thick patties. (Make-ahead: Cover and refrigerate for up to 6 hours)
   
3. Place patties on greased grill over medium-high heat; close lid and cook for 5 minutes or until golden brown. Sandwich along with lettuce in pitas.

All in all, it turned out well... We made a few changes:

1. We used grated cheese and integrated it with the mixture, instead of putting it on top.
2. We added more mushrooms than the recipe calls for. Upon tasting the recipe the first time around, we decided it tasted too much like beans and not enough like mushrooms. 
3. We fried them in a pan instead of grilling them. (The snow was covering the BBQ).
4. We used burger buns instead of pitas. We also topped it off with your typical burger toppings.

Next time around, I'd like to try using a different kind of beans. Black beans, possibly. Chick peas would be good too. I'd also only use a half can to start, and add them in as necessary to bind everything together.  

This is a great recipe as it's very flexible. It would be great with portabello mushrooms and Swiss cheese, or you could do black beans and monterey jack for something a little different. You could add in jalapenos or olives or whatever you wanted to give it the flavour you like. 

Who has two thumbs and really likes this recipe? This girl. 

:)

Orange Ginger Broth with Soba Noodles

Here's another recipe involving oranges. This one is from Michael Smith of Chef at Home andChef at Large.  He's another one of my favourite chefs, as he often cooks without a recipe. This is something I strive for - the ability to know what ingredients go together to make an interesting flavour blend! 

Ingredients:
1 x small package soba noodles
2 cups orange juice 
2 cups chicken stock 
2 inch piece of ginger, frozen
1 tbsp soya sauce
1 cup sliced green onions
2 cups baby bok choy, chopped
1 cup bean sprouts
1 x carrot, grated
1 tbsp sesame seeds

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. 
   
2. Season with salt and then add soba noodles. 
   
3. Boil just until they have softened, about 3-5 minutes. 
   
4. Drain and rinse.
   
5. Bring orange juice and chicken stock to a simmer.
   
6. Grate in frozen ginger, reserving some for garnish and add soya sauce, green onions, bok choy, sprouts and carrot.
   
7. Stir until bok choy is wilted. 
   
8. Place some soba noodles into soup bowls.
   
9. Ladle in some broth and vegetables and garnish with sesame seeds and grated ginger.
   

 

Rob and I made a few changes to this recipe. First of all, Rob is vegetarian so we used veggie broth instead of chicken broth. Other changes we made...

1. We used rice noodles instead of soba noodles. If you're making rice noodles, just put them in a bowl and cover with boiling water, then let them sit. Don't boil them like regular pasta (what a mushy mess that makes, trust me!)
2. We used a jar of minced ginger instead of frozen fresh ginger. Same diff!
3. We added a bit of garlic.
4. We also added mushrooms and broccoli to the mix. I recommend you throw in as many veggies as you like!
5. We did the 2 cups of OJ/2 cups of broth combination. In retrospect, the next time I try this dish, I will use less OJ and more broth. While the orange was a nice flavour, it was a little overpowering at times. 

Overall, I really liked this recipe and would definitely make it again. 

Orange Fennel Salad

This recipe is done by Roger Mooking of The Everyday Exotic. I tested this out this weekend and found it to be a success!! It's very simple, but the flavours are awesome. 

Ingredients

3 x oranges, segmented

1/4 red onion, thinly sliced

1/2 bulb fennel, thinly sliced

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

1/2 bunch mint, leaves picked

1/3 cup almonds

salt

Directions

1. In a bowl, add oranges, red onion, fennel, and vinegar.

2. Season well with salt.

3. Add mint and almonds just before serving.

Here are some notes that I had...

1. If you have a Chinese mandolin to slice the fennel and the onions, use that instead of a knife to slice them. If the fennel or onion pieces are too big, the flavour will overpower everything else.

2. Segmenting oranges is tricky. Segmenting oranges is cutting the peel and the skin off, then slicing the orange so that you have wedges that have none of that transparent skin on them.

3. When you have segmented the oranges and added them to your bowl, squish a little bit of the juice from the remaining bits into the bowl to add flavour. 

4. Let your salad marinate overnight. I tried some immediately after I made it yesterday, then tried some again today. Today the salad tasted much better, since the flavours and juices had time to blend together.

And finally... if you have any remaining mint leaves left over, make a MOJITO!

Enjoy!

I've always wanted my own cooking show...

Well, it's sort of true anyway. Over the past few months, I've developed what some might call an unhealthy addiction to the Food Network. I, however, like to call it not "addiction", but rather "learning by osmosis". Maybe if I watch it enough, one day I'll try cooking and just realize that I am an expert chef. 

Sadly, as I have attempted a few Food Network recipes in the recent months, this has not always been the case. Sometimes things turn out to be awesome... and sometimes not so much! Ask my boyfriend Rob - sometimes I have subjected him to eating some pretty nasty dishes.

So I've developed this blog as a way to track the recipes I try, the success or failure I've had with the recipe, and any changes I'd like to make when I try the recipe again. Hopefully I post more successes than failures, but as I like to think - if we never fail, we never learn!

So enjoy the recipes, and if you try one out for yourself, be sure to let me know how it goes!