Embracing Balance

Things…

2012-02-09T10:30:00.000-08:00

This was my view from the gym yesterday. There’s worse things to look at while sweating up a storm, no?

I swear I had plans for a recipe post this week. I made this Quinoa and Bean Soup the other night and while it’s OK, it’s bland so I didn’t deem it good enough for a post of it’s own.

To be fair, it was better heated up and it was really easy to make so maybe with some better seasoning I might make it again and tell you about it.

So far, my grocery budgeting has worked out exactly as I had planned for the week. In fact I bought myself a happy little bouquet and still didn’t break the budget. Huzzah!

Once a month I load my Starbucks card for buying coffee beans and occasional handy dandy coffees. Yesterday I was happy to use up my last $3 just to get my hands on a cute Love cup!

I didn’t do it, but there’s an iPhone app you can use to scan the cup and the picture will magically come to life! Starbucks…you are a PR machine.

UPS arrived at my door and I may have squealed with delight when I buzzed the guy in to deliver this package!! I’ve been sitting, waiting, and wishing for a real food processor for years now (I only have a wee 2 cupper) so I finally gave in and ordered one.

Don’t worry…it didn’t cost me a dime! As if a KitchenAid anything is in my budget right now. Nope! You can thank Airmiles for this one. :)

This thing is enormous!! I’ll probably be complaining that it’s too much food processor for me now. Never satisfied you know.

Now, what to make…what to make?

Oh, and the third instalment from #CanadianBloggerSeries is up over on Heidi’s blog. This time it’s my buddy Scott from Your Inner Skinny explaining what a giant pain in the ass it is to eat healthy living in Yellowknife.

I hate to break it to you bud, but those organic eggs cost the same ridiculous amount here in Victoria. You aren’t alone up there on that one!

Fit February

2012-02-07T11:46:00.001-08:00

Well folks, I’m stoked to report that my January Joiner motivation has stayed with me and Fit February is off to an excellent start. I think I can finally safely say I’ve found my workout mojo!! It only took the better part of two years. :)

As planned I finished up January with lots of cardio and a weeee introduction to strength training in the form of the rowing machine. My greatest fear about this whole returning to working out situation is that one of my many evil aches and pains will return…and the rowing machine is a good test of my neck and shoulder. So far, so good!

Monday – row, row, row my…rowing machine!

Tuesday – extra focus on the cardio…

Wednesday – Michael returned from his vacation so we took the dogs for a wander at the dog park and beach…

Thursday – hanging out on the elliptical extra long…

Friday – took my first steps into the weight area…mini plank workout!

Sunday – gorgeous day in Victoria, took the dogs for a nice long walk around one of our nicest lake trails. Thetis Lake…

I actually felt guilty not doing anything on Saturday! Who am I?!! :)

This week I’ve ventured into actual strength training. I’m starting out a few weeks behind on Fitnessista’s Winter Shape Up…yesterday was my first day and oh boy I’m pretty sure my body might hate me in a couple of days.

How is everyone else’s workout motivation holding up? Anyone need a kick in the pants?

Bigass Budget Salads

2012-02-06T13:25:00.001-08:00

Happy Monday everyone!

As I do every Monday I am sitting here writing my to-do lists, planning my weekly workouts, balancing my bank account and budget, and putting together my grocery list.

Since I have pretty much spent all of my grocery money on a microbrew collection I am currently hoarding in my fridge this week’s challenge is to buy as few groceries as possible so as to stay within budget. Thankfully I have a decent selection of items in my freezer, a freshly boiled bowl of eggs, and lots of odds and sodds to turn into quickie breakfasts and lunches this week.

But what about those bigass salads I’ve been known for? The big silver bowl is back in the rotation and I love to fill it chock-o-block with lots of healthy vegetables. What I’ve learned though is this is the place it is easy to bust my budget and have started to pay close attention to how I’m getting what I want and need.

Where I’m willing to spend: Those convenient tubs of pre-washed baby lettuces and/or spinach. It’s faster, easier, and tastier than some boring but cheap head of green leaf lettuce. I am far more likely to make my salads if I can reach into the tub instead of having to clean, dry and prep the greens.

Keeping on budget with the rest of the fillings is the ticket to making that tub o’ greens worth it. I look for veggies on sale or reasonably priced when bought in smaller, as-needed quantities. It’s easy to get a few carrots, radishes, celery, and red onion for a couple of bucks. One avocado can last for four salads. Last week broccoli was on sale…this week it’s tomatoes. Shopping the sales not only saves money but creates variety without even really thinking about it.

To keep the salads even more interesting I reach into my baking cupboard. A sprinkle of some kind of nut, seed, or dried fruit makes the bowl seem fancier than it is. If the salad is intended to be a meal I top it with whatever protein I’ve decided on for the week…whether it’s roast chicken breast from the deli, beans from my pantry, last night’s leftovers, or one of those boiled eggs I remembered to cook up this morning. Combine all of that with a quick squirt of dressing, or drizzle of oil and vinegar and it’s a complete bowl for a reasonable price and a fast preparation.

So this week I’m aiming to spend less than $30 on groceries for myself, but will still manage at least five bigass lunch salads and a batch of homemade granola bars. And no, that doesn’t mean I’m eating Mr. Noodles for dinner! :)

Do you have any budget tricks to keep your grocery bills from skyrocketing?

Black & White

2012-02-05T14:57:00.001-08:00

On Saturday night some dear friends of mine, Laura and Hugh, hosted their first party in their new townhouse. Being the quirky and fun folks they are, their party came complete with a theme…Black & White. Bow ties, polka dots, dice and dominos were the focus of the evening.

Of course, I was more concerned about what kind of food I could bring than what outfit I would wear. I mean…have you ever really thought about black and white food? It’s a toughie!!

Laura put together lots of white cheeses, crackers, dark chocolate cupcakes, popcorn and dips. She really pulled out the black and whites of the food world.

What I came up with was Oreos. But I can’t just show up with a bag of cookies now can I? So I took those cookies to the next level.

Bark is one of the easiest, but prettiest treats to put together. You melt some chocolate and you top it with your favourite yummy bits. This version is simply white chocolate and smashed Oreos cookies.

White Chocolate Oreo Cookie Bark

Ingredients:

3 cups white chocolate discs or chips
15 smashed Double Stuf Oreo Cookies, chilled

Directions:

Line a baking sheet with wax or parchment paper.
Place the cookies in a zipper bag and smash with a rolling pin. If the icing sticks a lot, stir with a fork to break up.
Divide the chocolate into three batches. Melt the first batch either over a double boiler, or in the microwave stirring to ensure smoothness. Spread the melted chocolate on the papered baking sheet and sprinkle liberally with about half of the smashed cookies.
Melt the second batch of chocolate and pour over the first layer of bark. Spread with the back of a spoon to incorporate cookie crumbs and even out the layer. Sprinkle with about a third of the remaining cookies and press with the spoon.
Melt the third batch of chocolate and use the spoon to drizzle all over the second layer. Press the remaining cookie chunks into the drizzled chocolate.
Refrigerate at least one hour or until needed. When ready to package or serve, lift the whole sheet of paper off the tray to a cutting board and use a large knife to cut into large pieces. Then break by hand into smaller pieces.

I stacked the black and white bark into a couple of sturdy white bowls, wrapped the whole works in white tissue paper and packed it up in a cute black and white damask bag. Success.

Cute theme, cute eats, good times. Black and white and fun all over!

What’s your favourite theme for a house party?

Sunshine on a Rainy Day

2012-02-01T11:00:00.000-08:00

So my boyfriend has been gone for 12 days and I think we’ve had 12 days of rain, snow, wind or some such other crap weather. He returned from Costa Rica last night and he had better have brought me some sunshine!

On the off chance that he didn’t pack beach sand and surf in his suitcase for me I looked to the bag of clementine oranges in my fridge to help me create my own sunshine. Clearly eating them straight up wasn’t doing the trick.

Guacamole seemed like another hot weather, fun in the sun food to work on so it only seemed to reason that these things should go together. And thus Clementine Guacamole was born.

Clementine Guacamole

yields 4 x 1/4 cup servings

Ingredients:

1 large avocado, peeled and diced
4-6 clementines, peeled and segmented (depending on size, looking for equal parts oranges and avocado)
1 lime, juice and zest
1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
1/2 small red chili pepper, seeded and minced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
coarse salt, pepper, and cumin – to taste

Directions:

It’s real rocket science. Mix everything together without mashing the avocado or oranges, taste, and adjust seasonings if desired.
Refrigerate in an airtight container for at least an hour so the flavours have time to mingle.
Serve with tortilla chips, rice crackers, fish tacos, or on a spoon. Enjoy.

Note: Just like any other guacamole this recipe is open to interpretation and the ingredient quantities listed are just a guideline. Go ahead and sprinkle, taste, sprinkle, taste until you love what you’ve got. :)

According to MyFitnessPal a 1/4 cup is around 140 calories…give or take.

Didn’t I tell you…sunshine in a bowl. If anything, the absolutely delicious aroma of the juicy clementines being segmented got the job done. But obviously powering through a couple of servings of the guacamole felt pretty good too.

Try this: a whole wheat flour tortilla spread with plain Greek yogurt, a sprinkle of Mexican seasoning, greens, grilled halibut with cumin & lime, and a bigass scoop of this guacamole. Your welcome.

And now if you’ll excuse me, I have a suitcase to inspect for sunshine.

Confessions

2012-01-31T10:30:00.000-08:00

** There is a box of Special K Vanilla Almond in the cupboard above my fridge. And often eat a bowl drenched in soy milk while laying in bed watching Firefly/Castle/HIMYM/FridayNightLights before falling asleep.

** I have made next-to-no progress on the painting of my base boards. That whole “base boards are thisclose to the carpet” situation has proven to be a giant pain in the azz. (Yes, I bought the little tool…but it’s still a pain).

** Sunday night I made a pan of Rice Krispie Treats as snacks for the week. Yesterday I threw them away because they didn’t turn out. How do you eff up cereal, melted marshmallows and butter?

** You may find a case of Diet Ginger Ale in my fridge. Sometimes it’s OK to drink artificial sweetener. Like when you read 8,001 food blogs that feature cupcakes and chocolate covered bacon and you need something to stop your sweet tooth from jumping off a bridge.

** I didn’t shave my legs the entire time Michael was in Costa Rica. What? It’s not like it’s skirt season around here. (He’s home tonight BTW!)

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The second post for the #CanadianBloggerSeries is up over on Heidi’s blog. This week’s installation comes from Lisa at Smores N More and she tells us about her love of Ontario and a great snowshoeing adventure. Pop over and check the girls out and tell us what you love about Canada. :)

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Got any confessions you just HAVE to get out and tell me??

Consider January Joined!

2012-01-30T13:06:00.001-08:00

Two days left in the month and I can safely say I hit my workout goals for January!

What were those goals? Well, I didn’t want to scare myself away from the gym again so I kept it simple…

Some kind of activity at least 4 days per week.
Preferably at least 3 of those days at the gym.
Basic cardio with lots of stretching.

Aside from the fact that I got the plague immediately following Day 1 and ended up a little delayed at the get-go…I did it!

If you count the next two days (which obviously I do!) I completed 19 activity days in January. 13 gym days, 5 extra walks, 1 at home yoga session. Not too shabby, eh?!

I do have to admit that this last week started out a little shakey…I lost my motivation for a few days at the beginning of the week, but on Wednesday I did drag my buns out to walk the dog and from there on it was all good!

Wednesday – doggie walk to the park…

Thursday – quiet early day workout…

Friday – happy to burn off some calories in anticipation of dinner…

Saturday – rare weekend trip to the gym (20 extra minutes!)…

Sunday – rainy day walk through the dog park and along the beach. Chibi was pretty stoked to be soaked! :)

So, two more days of this January cardio build-up then we get into Fit February. This means the re-introduction of strength training. Guess I’d better get to work on that plan!

Any other January Joiners hold it up through the month? What’s your motivation? or is anyone in need of a little motivation?

Tweetup Meatup

2012-01-28T15:03:00.001-08:00

So yeah. I think I’ve said about a dozen times now to anyone that would listen that I wanted to try to get away from restaurant reviews. No real reason other than that I was starting to feel obligated to say nice things, drag my camera everywhere, and annoy my friends and dates by getting pictures before anyone touched their meals. It’s cumbersome you know!

But here’s the thing. Sometimes restaurant adventures are definitely worth mentioning. If it’s particularly delicious, or especially fun, or something a little different it might warrant dragging my bigass camera out for the night.

Case in point: a Tweetup of food loving Victorians at a newly reopened local BBQ joint. Smoken Bones Cookshack.

I’m pretty sure the rest of the world thinks Victoria is full of West Coast hippies that eat a lot of granola, and kale, and fresh fish…but oddly enough our little city has become home to a wide variety of barbecue these last few years. We have multiple places to get our hands on pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, and macaroni and cheese.

Smoken Bones has recently moved from their suburban home in a strip mall to a spacious new location downtown in The Hudson building…and has taken to social media in a grand fashion. All it took was a handful of tweets and overnight a Tweetup for Meat was born.

Here’s a tip. You want great service and special attention at a local eatery? Arrange a party with 25 other food lovers who like to tweet and blog their faces off. Scott and his staff looked after us like we were rock stars.

He arranged a few pre-dinner snackies for us and brought us a round of bacon cocktail shots. Yep, bacon cocktails. They make their own bacon vodka, mix it with roasted pineapple puree and a weeeee bit of serrano pepper and call it a margarita. The C’moniwannaleia. And it’s delicious.

He also took us for a tour of the rest of the construction zone under The Hudson and told us a lovely rumour that next to the new 2% Jazz Coffee there just might be a local bakery going in.

And then we dove into dinner.

This ain’t no dainty dinner spot. Bring your short sleeved shirt, your ponytail, and your appetite. You are going to have BBQ sauce on your nose and meat stuck in your teeth. And you are going to love that. I opted for the pulled pork sandwich because that’s my favourite barbecue joint meal to try…and for something completely different I ordered up the pan-fried cabbage as my side.

That sammich was LOADED. Pulled pork was falling out from every side…to the point where I was eating up the meat with a fork. Then I rolled up my sleeves and dove in for the first greasy bite and was whisked off to juicy, flavour heaven. I’d call it the second best pulled pork I’ve ever had.

And that cabbage. It created a mess of butter in my dish and made me feel guilty for eating my vegetable this way but it’s a fun and tasty option for sure.

As for portion and pricing I thought this meal was just right. My basket was $10, it wasn’t ridiculously overfilling, nor did I feel like I could eat more. Paired with a beer it’s a good meal. Sure, it’s not healthy but if your are heading to the Cookshack I suspect you weren’t hoping for kale salad and quinoa now were ya?!

While we stuffed our faces we also kept our fingers clean and tweeting during a round of #Cookshack BBQ Trivia. Scott posted rounds of questions for us to answer and the player with the most points won a gift certificate to the restaurant. Second runner up got themselves a pair of tickets to a Victoria Royals hockey game.

Of course, no restaurant tasting would be complete without trying out dessert. Especially when the dessert is what got us all talking about going to Smoken Bones in the first place. Bacon Ice Cream. WHAT? You thought the Bacon Cocktail was the crazy item on the night’s menu didn’t you?

Caramelized bacon wrapped around vanilla based ice cream. I think my friend Jen described it best when she said the bacon reminded her of that almost-burnt-marshmallow-taste. You know, when it’s thisclose to overcooked and damn near perfect? That was the bacon. Smoky, candied, super fun.

So yeah. Now you can see why I just had to haul James Dean with me and report back to you all on this particular restaurant. A great time was had by all, the staff looked after us well, the food was delicious, and the cocktail is worth a second visit.

Note: The Tweetups will likely become monthly events so if you missed this one, follow @smokenbones411 on Twitter and watch out for the next one.

Cheap & Tasty Kale Pesto

2012-01-26T10:50:00.000-08:00

I don’t know why I’ve not thought to do this before now. I spent five pretty fun years working in a funky restaurant in my late teens where one of my favourite things to eat was a grilled cheese sammich with pesto…and somehow I have not had one since. Really?!

How did this happen?!

Probably because I’m too ~~cheap~~ frugal to make real basil pesto and it’s not something I think would be good from a jar.

I’ve made spinach pesto in the past so I thought kale would probably work too. Turns out I’m right…it’s super yumm-o! Of course, it also turns out that I did indeed see the idea on Pinterest, so I can’t claim full recognition for this genius idea. Dammit.

But at the very least I whipped up my recipe before I looked at my boards and confirmed my suspicions that I truly don’t have any original ideas. :)

Kale and Almond Pesto

yields 8 servings, 1/4 cup each

inspired by Raw Food Recipes

Ingredients:

1 large bunch fresh kale, washed, trimmed from stems, and torn into large pieces (approximately 8 loose cups)
1/4 cup whole almonds, pan toasted
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
juice and zest of half a lemon
salt and pepper
1/4 cup pecorino cheese, grated (parmesan or asiago would work too!)
1/4 cup olive oil
optional: pinch of cayenne

Directions:

Using a food processor or good blender chop the almonds. Remove and set aside. In the same processor chop the kale.
Add the almonds back to the processor along with the minced garlic, lemon juice and zest, a liberal sprinkle of salt and pepper, and cayenne (if using). Whirl in processor until well minced and mixed.
Set processor to low speed and drizzle in olive oil slowly to saturate. Scrape down sides if necessary, then add grated cheese and whirl just to combine.

Note: I kept the olive oil quantity light to help keep the calories down, but if you want a true wet pesto add more oil.

MyFitnessPal tells me this recipe works out to around 135 calories per serving.

Personally I think the almonds are what make this work, but the fresh, rich taste of the kale lends itself quite well to the mix too! Whatever it is I think I might like it better than regular pesto. It’s probably because almonds and kale are a fraction the cost of basil and pine nuts. Cheaper tastes better!

Now my mind is spinning with ideas for this bowl of green goodness.

Start by mixing a large scoop of the pesto with a spoonful of olive oil mayo, then slather it on your favourite bread (you know mine was Squirrelly) with a layer of old white cheddar and make yourself the bestest grilled cheese EVER.

Yes, EVER. Possibly better than that dreamy sammich of my teen years.

What are your favourite uses for pesto?

I plan to make pasta with goat cheese, pesto bean dip, and about six more of those sandwiches.

Today…

2012-01-24T18:07:00.001-08:00

…is National Peanut Butter Day. How do I know? Because it’s the hottest topic among food bloggers on Twitter! Oddly I actually bought peanut butter for the first time in months today. Only because my Trader Joe’s almond butter is nearing it’s end and I haven’t managed to talk anyone into trekking across the border to replenish it for me. PB will have to suffice. I suppose.

…I’m making Kale Pesto. I feel like this is brilliant. And cheaper than real pesto. If someone else thought of it before me please don’t ruin my fun by telling me. I like to think I come up with ideas on my own. I plan to smoooosh it into a grilled cheese sandwich. See! Brilliant.

…I am tackling the first of the to-do projects I gave myself for the New Year. Painting my base boards has only been on my to-do list for about 14 months. Not that I’m counting. It involves a lot of painter’s tape and crawling around on my floor…not to mention moving my couch, TV stand and desk…so we’ll see just how much of this project gets done before Michael comes back from vacation and I enlist him for the heavy lifting.

…the first post for the #CanadianBloggerSeries went up over on Heidi’s blog, The Balance Project. For obvious reasons I love her blog name. For other obvious reasons I love this blog series. Proud Canadians in the house! Today’s post is all about Saskatchewan and courtesy of A Dash of Meg. Stay tuned for posts every Tuesday, including one by yours truly next month.

…I want a cupcake. That is all.

What did you do today?

I’m still a January Joiner

2012-01-23T12:38:00.001-08:00

Are you?! How is your healthy lifestyle holding up now that we are a few weeks in? I’m struggling to see results and let me tell you it’s annoying, but I’m keepin’ on keepin’ on!

Another week of cardio…this time with RUNNING. Oh lordy. I decided to up things from my speed walking and get my heart pumping so hard it felt like it would pop out of my mouth.

Monday – new workout – basic HIIT…

Warm-Up = 3 mins (3.0 – 3.5mph)
8x 1 min jogging (4.5mph), 30 sec running (5.5mph), 1:30 min walking (3.5 mph) = 24 mins
Cool down = 3 mins (3.5 – 2.5 mph)
TOTAL = 30 minutes

Wednesday – same workout – new playlist…

Saturday – same workout – forgot my socks!

And since yesterday I spent my morning fighting a harrowing windstorm on the highway home from a friend’s house I decided I wasn’t going out in #yyjWindpocalypse again and did some yoga at home.

Sunday – yogadownload.com – Shoulder Opening Flow…

This week is more of the same with the addition of the rowing machine. Preparing my upper body for the return of strength training in February.

What’s your favourite treadmill workout?

Happy Birthday Hour

2012-01-22T15:22:00.001-08:00

After starting a Friday afternoon off with a cider tasting with dear friends you can’t very well just call it a night. More plans must be made. Especially when an important birthday has just passed without a celebration and several bottles of sparkling cider have just been purchased.

We can’t let Tiffaney get away without a girlie birthday dinner!

Unpictured: herby cheeeeese, mixed olives and crack-crackers.

Bigass roasted beet and apple salad with candied pecans and fresh orange juice dressing.

Butternut squash gnocchi with brown butter and sage from La Piola.

And homemade birthday cake…complete with sour cherry buttercream.

Also unpictured (geeee, how did that happen?): mass quantities of Sea Cider.

Our potlucking skills have become excellent. Talk about team effort!

Happy Birthday Tiffaney!!

Sea Cider Friday

2012-01-21T15:34:00.001-08:00

Well I think I’ve figured out how a Friday afternoon should be spent more often. A little early exit from work, a short drive, a crisp Winter day, some good girlfriends, and a wee cider tasting. Sounds good, no?

Shockingly I have been holding on to a Groupon for Sea Cider for almost a whole year. I guess “we’ll go sometime this Summer” means “we’ll go before it expires”. Thankfully I was not alone in my slacking so there were two Groupons to be used up which meant four of us gals could take part.

Sea Cider Farm and Ciderhouse is just a short drive out the highway where it sits on a lovely little piece of land complete with a gorgeous view. Even on a foggy snowy day it’s crisp and peaceful.

Choosing to go late on a Friday afternoon worked out quite well…we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

Included in our great Groupon deal was a little local snack plate…breads, cheese, chorizo, salmon, chutney and hazlenut brittle…all from local foodie artisans.

Good thing for that bread and cheese…we needed it for our long flights! Eight ciders to taste and a sample of Hot Buttered Rumrunner. I was glad to share!

I have tried several of Sea Ciders specialties before and was hoping to walk away with a new favourite…but turns out I’m a creature of habit. Still pretty much in love with Pippins, which is strong and off-dry but has a lightly sweet fruity touch to it. Rumrunner is still a close second but because of it’s stronger flavours I like it with dessert (or you know, in front of a roaring fire…if I had a fireplace). :)

A perfect way to launch into a busy weekend…now if we could just make short Fridays happen on a regular basis.

Wouldn’t that just be the life? *sigh*

Snowpocalypse Chowder

2012-01-20T11:02:00.000-08:00

Well, our snow appears to have stopped falling from the sky but is showing no intention of leaving the ground any time soon. I ventured out to the gym yesterday and was shocked that so many of the roads are still so bad. Driveable but gross! Slushy business.

Nice time for my darling boyfriend to head off for sunny South America, no? I knew that whole business of trotting off to Greece without him would come back to haunt me. Next time I need to be smart enough to book my warm and lovely vacation during Victoria’s annual snowpocalypse.

Alas, someone’s gotta stay home and pay her mortgage so instead of snorkelling with tropical fishies I’ll stay here and eat copious amounts of soul warming chowder. Take THAT silly sunny vacation.

Roasted Butternut Squash Chowder

yields 6 servings

adapted from Food for my Family (thanks Pinterest!)

Ingredients:

6 slices bacon, chopped
2 carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 small onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 baking potatoes, peeled and diced into bite-size cubes
2 tbsp fresh sage, chiffonade
1 tsp paprika
pinch cayenne
salt and pepper
1 carton (900 ml) chicken broth
1 cup water
3 cups roasted butternut squash, pureed
1/2 cup heavy/whipping cream
1 tsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tsp cold water

Tip: Add water 1-2 tbsp at a time to help the process of pureeing the squash.

Directions:

In a large pot, cook bacon over medium heat until browned and becoming crisp. Using a slotted spoon, remove bacon from pot to rest on paper towel.
In the same pot add carrots, celery and onions. Stir to coat and sauté until al dente. While vegetables are rendering down stir in garlic.
Add potatoes, sage, paprika, cayenne and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Stir to combine and continue cooking for 3-4 minutes.
Stir in chicken broth and water, cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling remove the lid, reduce the heat, and simmer until potatoes are fork tender…approximately 10 minutes.
Stir in pureed butternut squash and whipping cream. Taste for seasoning and adjust if desired. Add corn starch mixture, stirring continuously while returning chowder to a light boil. Reduce heat once bubbling begins. When desired thickness is reached remove pot from heat, stir in reserved bacon, and let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Don’t nibble on the bacon while you are working on the soup! You need it. If you are a bacon monster, make extra.

Fill your belly full of this delicious creaminess before pulling on your fuzzy lined boots and your devil horn toque and your big red mittens and your puffiest Winter coat to take your hairless dog out for her business.

It wards off the cold.

Almost as good as a trip to Costa Rica.

Riiiiight.

Victoria Snow Day(s)

2012-01-18T15:35:00.001-08:00

On Saturday morning we awoke to a few inches of freshly fallen snow out in the ‘burbs.

Just enough to be pretty. Just enough to be fun for the dogs.

On Monday morning we awoke to enough snow that I thought maybe my car and I might have to take a snow day. Alas I have snow tires, front wheel drive, and a boyfriend with lots of great elbow grease.

By Tuesday afternoon Mother Nature was trying to drag her blanket of snow into the city but after a while she gave up.

Until this morning that is. I woke up to a white out and minor snow drifts in the parking lot. So I went for a walk in two pairs of pants and my trusty toque. Yep, our roads are a mess and baby, it’s cold outside.

Looks like the perfect night for chowder. And snuggles on the couch.

Did I mention Michael is leaving for Costa Rica in the morning? Bugger.

Roasted Garlic White Bean Dip

2012-01-17T13:26:00.001-08:00

How much do you spend on store bought hummus and other easy-to-grab dips? When I’m looking for simple, healthy snack ideas I can easily spend $5 every time I walk past that deli cooler.

What is ridiculous is that for less than $2 and about 15 minutes I can make a triple size container of my own at home!

Since I didn’t have tahini in my cupboard and didn’t want to put out the cash for it I decided against hummus and opted for something equally as delicious and creamy…White Bean Dip. The nice thing about white beans is they generally have a creamier consistency and they don’t have those silly skins that need removing like chick peas do (not that I ever remove them because I’m lazy…but I’m also always disappointed in the smoothness of my hummus).

And since the beans lend themselves to pretty much any added flavour it was a simple decision to forego the plain version and opt for something much more exciting. We all know I’m recently obsessed with roasted garlic!

Tip: Since this recipe calls for olive oil I decided to use a little extra while roasting my garlic and added some fresh rosemary to the dish too. When the garlic was ready I simply strained the olive oil and let it cool for use in the dip.

Roasted Garlic White Bean Dip

inspired by Giada De Laurentiis

yields about 2.5 cups

Ingredients:

1 can (540ml) white beans, drained and rinsed
1 head roasted garlic, cloves squeezed from skins
juice and zest of 1 lemon
1/8 cup olive oil (use extra to roast garlic, strain and use)
2 tbsp parmesan cheese
1/2 cup fresh Italian parsley
salt and pepper
water for thinning
(optional: Greek yogurt)

Directions:

In a food processor or good blender puree together beans, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and parmesan. If mixture is too thick for blending add water one tablespoon at a time to loosen it up.
When desired consistency is reached add salt, pepper, lemon zest and parsley and pulse a few times just to chop parsley and incorporate. Taste and re-season if desired.
If adding Greek yogurt, move dip to a mixing bowl and fold in yogurt using a spatula.

According to MyFitnessPal 8 servings (about 1/3 cup) work out to approximately 115 calories per serving. yay!

Serve with your favourite crackers, pita crisps, veggie sticks or bread chunks. I found these hearty sea salt & sesame rice crackers that worked perfectly for scooping and shovelling the dip directly into my face. Or how genius I am to make yam chips and use those?!

For something fun and extra tasty try adding additional ingredients. I oven roasted a tomato to stir into half my batch…

Other Optional Add-ins: wilted spinach, red pepper, caramelized onions, chopped black olives, pesto, chili flakes...and on and on and on. :)

See how cheap and easy this is? Now get to it!

January Joiner Update

2012-01-16T12:20:00.001-08:00

Week one back to working out = complete!

Keeping things simple with a few work day cardio sessions at the gym and a couple of outdoor walks with the pupper. This week I crank up the cardio intensity…and by crank I mean like one minute of jogging. :)

Monday – view from the gym…

Tuesday – my feets on the treadmill…

Wednesday – walk to the park with Chiberoo…

Thursday – cardio machine lovey dovey…

Friday – post workout schweaty face…

Saturday – rest and relaxation.

Sunday – snow walk with Michael and the doggies…

How is your January Joiner recommitment to life, health and happiness going?

Butternut & Chorizo Tart

2012-01-13T11:00:00.000-08:00

Helloooooo out there! All of a sudden it’s been like a week and I haven’t had anything to blog about! That’s what happens when I spend my days eating salad or take-out…nothing exciting to share!

OK, I should share the amazing Butter Chicken Poutine I had the other day, but that’s not what we’re here for now is it? Tease. Yep.

Instead I have the first of two recipes involving this bigass bad boy.

Michael sent me home with this butternut squash last weekend in the hopes that I’d turn around and bring it back all cooked up in a soup or some such thing. Well, lucky boy…it was so big I came up with two things for him.

Thanks to Twitter friends I was inspired to tackle a Butternut Squash Tart. Well, my lazy variation of a tart anyway. Let’s just say I’m not friends with homemade pastry just yet…

The suggestion that came my way from Rayna was caramelized onions and goat cheese. Yesssss. I don’t know about you but I love the flavour combination of chorizo sausage with butternut as well, so I decided to just work all of those ideas into one recipe…and let me tell ya, I felt like a genius for doing it!

Butternut Squash Tart with Chorizo, Onion & Goat Cheese

inspired by Epicurious

yields: 8 servings

Ingredients:

2 cups roasted butternut squash
150 grams bulk chorizo sausage (2 links removed from skin)
2 small onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4-6 leaves fresh sage, chiffonade
1 tbsp olive oil (plus extra for brushing roasting squash)
1 tbsp butter
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/3 cup heavy/whipping cream
(water for thinning)
1 tsp oregano
salt and pepper to taste
sprinkle cayenne if desired
1/4 cup fresh parmesan cheese, coarsely grated
60 grams (2 oz.) creamy goat cheese
1 pre-made pie crust

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove frozen pie crust from tin plate and set into glass pie pan to thaw while preparing filling.
In a non-stick skillet over medium heat brown the chorizo, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon if necessary. Cook until crumbly and no longer pink in the middle. Remove from skillet and set aside.
In the same skillet heat the olive oil and butter together over medium heat. When hot add onions and stir to coat. Sautee until becoming translucent, then add garlic and stir. Continuing sautéing until onions and garlic start to brown, then add sage. Stir and continue cooking until everything becomes golden and caramelized. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a food processor or good blender puree the roasted squash (may need a little water to help it along). Add egg, egg yolk and cream and continue pureeing until smooth.
Pour squash mixture into a large mixing bowl. Add sausage, parmesan, oregano, salt, pepper, and cayenne (if using). Stir to incorporate. Add onion mixture (reserve a few tablespoons), stir again.
Scoop about half of the filling into the pie crust, spread evenly. Sprinkle with dollops of goat cheese. Add remaining filling, spread evenly. Top with remaining goat cheese and reserved onion mixture for decoration. Sprinkle with cracked pepper.
Bake tart for 30 minutes until crust is browned and filling has set. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

I have to tell you a secret… I don’t even really like butternut squash all that much. It’s like this weirdly overrated Winter food that everyone goes crazy over, but every time I have it I’m always underwhelmed.

Well, apparently roasting it is the key because I am pretty much in love with this. Never mind the chorizo, cream and two cheeses in there helping tasty it up…shhhh. And those onions….oooooh, those caramelized onions.

Best part about this recipe? According to MyFitnessPal a serving of this seemingly rich deliciousness is only around 200 calories!

Obviously this would be even better with a homemade crust if I wasn’t afraid of pastry. If you’ve got a good idiot proof one for me, please share.

How To: Roast Butternut Squash

2012-01-12T18:30:00.001-08:00

I know, I know. This seems like a cop-out post. I’ve been MIA for days and now I’m giving you this lame little thing telling you how to do something you probably already know how to do.

But….here’s the thing. I didn’t realize how easy roasting a butternut squash was, so maybe you didn’t either!!

Being presented with something like this can be intimidating!

Don’t be dirty. I know what you are thinking you dirty, dirty birds. ;)

When scoping out recipes for that bad boy I realized that every idea I liked involved roasted squash. It just seems so much more flavourful than using raw or boring baked butternut. So I picked out two recipe ideas and got to work roasting the squash in advance.

Directions:

Cut the squash in half lengthwise. If it’s a big fella, cut it in half crosswise as well. Scoop out the seeds…I find a solid soup spoon works great for scraping away the stringy flesh.
Lightly brush the cut sides with olive oil then place face down on a baking sheet.
Bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes until soft.
Let cool, then the rind should pretty much just pull away from the flesh. Use right away or refrigerate in a sealed container until needed.

Et voila! Now you are ready to tackle a delish roasted squash soup or amazing tart with caramelized onions and chorizo.

Oh wait, I guess you need the recipes. Is it tacky to make you wait a day or two? Oh well!!!

Egg Whites for the Win

2012-01-09T11:00:00.000-08:00

Hello healthy friends! Thanks for all of the support on Friday’s January Joiner post…hope it was a little motivation for a few of you, because it was for me. I see some serious treadmill time on my schedule today. My lululemon pants are happy to do something other than walk the dog or sit at my desk!

Eats this week have been really quite deeeelish and healthy, a few meals thanks to this bad boy…

Remember those egg whites that were hurting my head? Turns out I had about a bazillion recipe ideas for them… once the sweet and tart Citrus Curd haze cleared from my brain that is.

Keeping true to form I had to make sure I was keeping the meal budget-friendly and went shopping in my freezer for items to bring my ideas to fruition.

Leftover smoked salmon? Well all right then. Now we’re cooking! Literally.

Egg White Frittata with Smoked Salmon and Capers

Serves 4

Ingredients:

6 egg whites
1/3 cup cottage cheese (I use 1%)
1/4 skim milk (or milk of your choice)
1/4 cup onions, chopped
1 cup smoked salmon, flaked (not lox)
3 green onions, chopped
1 tbsp capers
salt, pepper and dill to taste
fresh grated parmesan

Directions:

Preheat broiler.
Whisk together egg whites, cottage cheese, milk, green onions, salt, pepper and dill. Set aside.
Liberally spray an oven-proof skillet with non-stick spray. Heat skillet to medium on stovetop, add onions and sauté until transparent (might need a little water to help them along). Add salmon, stir and cook until warmed through.
Reduce heat to medium-low. Add egg mixture and gently mix to distribute salmon mixture evenly through eggs. Sprinkle with capers.
As eggs begin to cook use spatula to gently ‘drag’ edges of eggs to create space for uncooked mixture to fill.
When mixture is approximately 3/4 cooked through, sprinkle fresh parmesan over entire dish, then place skillet under broiler. Cook 4-6 minutes, watching carefully, until cheese begins to brown and eggs no longer jiggle.
Let stand 2 minutes before cutting and serving. Sprinkle with more parmesan to serve.

This turned out better than I had expected. The cottage cheese worked perfectly as a binder and the capers gave an excellent zing and saltiness.

According to MyFitnessPal this works out to a measly 115 calories per serving. Served with a salad it made a perfect lunch and the next night a delicious light dinner.

January Joiner

2012-01-06T13:45:00.001-08:00

In the past I’ve never really needed a milestone or date marker to ‘start being healthy’. Overall my lifestyle has been pretty healthy for the last five years…balanced eating, balanced exercise. A few cupcakes, a few carrots.

But… Somewhere along that long drive from Halifax to Victoria I think I lost my healthy living mojo. I arrived here on the Island with a sense of entitlement to all things beer, cheese, and burger related. All in the name of socializing with friends I had missed for the better part of three years. I felt invincible or something. Like since I’d been so careful with my eating for so long a year of throwing calorie caution to the wind couldn’t hurt me.

Guess what? Life doesn’t work that way. If you stop working out, and keep eating poutine your ass gets bigger. And all of a sudden your entire wardrobe doesn’t fit and you spend your time telling your new boyfriend that you have nothing to wear…ever.

So, instead of whining about it for another six months I’ve decided to join all of the other resolutioners and get my shiz together. Time to get back to that girl I used to be. Time to be a January Joiner.

My gym membership has literally been a drain on my bank account for months now. I had all of that hip/leg/back pain over a year ago that slowed me down and kept me from working out, but honestly it just became the world’s best excuse to not do anything. I’m acknowledging that now and tackling the simple things I can do and I’ll worry about the more intensive stuff later.

I don’t plan to spend much time here telling you about my escapades in fitness. My workouts can be random and not all that interesting to anyone (including me!) but if something noteworthy happens I’ll be sure to update you all.

What I will do is eat healthier and share that with you. Nothing like a month of posting cookie recipes to get a girl in the mood for salads, egg whites, and chicken. Time to revamp some favourite recipes and see if we can healthify them…and if we can’t then I guess we’ll eat them full-fat and just take an extra trip to the treadmill.

When it doubt, run it out. Word.

Anyone else a January Joiner?

What’s your New Year’s resolution for 2012?

How To: Garlic Breath

2012-01-05T11:52:00.001-08:00

On New Year’s Eve Michael and I met up with some friends and family for dinner at a downtown restaurant. It was a good thing we are all close and had carrot cake to cleanse our palates because the veggie sides we all had were absolutely slathered in garlic. At least I knew my New Year’s kiss partner had suffered the same dilemma!

Not that there’s anything wrong with garlic. But whoa.

Funny enough though it appears I’ve been stockpiling fresh garlic at Michael’s house. Every time I buy groceries for a recipe I come home with more garlic “just in case”. It had produced a surplus and he asked me what I planned to do with it all.

When in doubt, roast it! Roasted garlic is tres delicious and super versatile. So much smoother and less vampire-repelling that the raw or sautéed versions. Our New Year’s restaurant could take a tip here!

Roasted Garlic (it’s so basic it’s not really even a recipe)

Ingredients:

whole garlic bulbs
olive oil

Directions:

Slice the pointy tops off the garlic…enough that each of the cloves are visible…and place in a baking pan.
Drizzle liberally with olive oil. Tightly cover tray with foil.
Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or more. When garlic is golden and easily poked with a fork, it’s ready.

There are soooo many uses for roasted garlic. We served ours alongside delicious cheeses, pate and crackers as our final long weekend meal. Tip: the roasted garlic was amazing paired with simple, plain, fresh goat cheese on a crisp cracker.

We found that either a small fondue fork or a rounded knife worked best for getting the caramelized cloves out of their natural paper packaging. Turning the whole thing upside down and squeezing works too, but I only recommend that if you aren’t sitting around the dinner table. :)

Other great uses for roasted garlic:

compound butter (mix roasted garlic with butter and a favourite fresh herb. serve with bread, use to pan cook fish, or serve atop a fresh grilled steak)
pasta sauce (add to cream sauce with lots of fresh pepper)
hummus (use instead of raw garlic in a batch of your favourite chick pea or bean dip)
pizza (the combinations are endless but I like sautéed mushrooms and extra cheese with my roasted garlic)
roasted garlic olive oil (use lots of extra olive oil in the roasting process. you can then drain and strain that extra oil for use in other recipes.)

What else do you use your roasted garlic for? Share with me!

Last Hurrah

2012-01-04T13:14:00.001-08:00

Just like most everyone else I am quite happy to abandon the treat parade that rolled through my life for the last couple of weeks and get back to a cookie-free lifestyle. I actually started making salads last week and have been enjoying every bite of every crunchy piece of lettuce, carrot and radish. But…

Yep, but.

…I promised Michael a lemony treat over the holidays and I never got it done. And since I hate broken promises I had to follow through, even if the holiday baking season is actually over.

I rationalized that this past Monday was still part of the holidays since we had the day off work in lieu of New Years Day…that totally counts!

The Citrus Curd Tarts I threw together turned out to be just the right thing! Michael’s been asking me to use up a pack of frozen tart shells some family member left in his freezer months ago, and I’ve been looking for an excuse to make Guilty Kitchen’s Citrus Curd ever since I first read the recipe.

Added bonus: Michael is actually friends with Elizabeth and her husband. Small world. :)

I had hoped to make the curd using Meyer lemons, but of course the day I went shopping for them I couldn’t get my hands on any. So I went with the original recipe of lemons and limes and it was a huge hit. Creamy, tart, tangy and oh so deeeeelish.

Baker’s note: Do NOT bake the curd. Bake the shells, then fill with the pre-made curd. Top with whipping cream if desired, then chow down.

Turns out making curd isn’t all that hard. Who knew? It’s just finding a use for all those leftover egg whites that’s making my head hurt. But if that’s the worst of it then I think we’ll be tackling this recipe again…and maybe again. The variations are pretty much endless.

Oh, and what’s that? Ah yes. An excellent way to use up that leftover Christmas cranberry sauce. Do it! Then get back to that bigass salad.

Bon Voyage 2011

2012-01-03T11:41:00.001-08:00

Here’s to an amazing 2012!!

Good Times 2011–Part Two

2011-12-30T10:50:00.000-08:00

Part One of this recap reminded me of so many fun times this year. Hard to believe there’s another six months to get through here!

July

Canada Day – always a festive good time in downtown Victoria.
Canada Day Fireworks – which ended up being the actual anniversary of my relationship with Michael. :)
Bonfire Campout – good times with friends and dogs.

August

ParmanFest 2011 – a reunion with lovely lifelong friends.
A daytrip to Salt Spring Island – relaxation with a side of Harley, wine and cheese.
Epic West Coast Crab Boil – the first of many dinner parties hosted by Michael and I.

September

Oceanside Camping for two – the post that reminds me I need to win the lottery and buy my own RV. {We ate good too.}
Great Canadian Beerfest 2011 – I volunteered to drink a lot of beer.
I left for two glorious weeks in Greece with my BFF!

October

I took a much needed blogging break.
Greece Recap – don’t worry I made sure to post plenty of information and photos about my amazing Greek vacation!

November

Nada. Blog breakin’ y’all.

December

I made my blogging comeback – and you were all thrilled to bits.
Holiday Feast – Round One & Two – because I’m just crazy enough to cook a big dinner for Michael’s family.
Holiday Feast – Round Three – because I’m smart enough to stand back when a man is making paella for eight.
Christmas with my Mom – complete with gifts and good eats.

All that’s left is New Years Eve! I may just sleep until then…just putting these posts together has exhausted me. And here I thought I was boring.

Thanks to everyone for an amazing 2011!! Blog readers and supporters are really what makes this all worthwhile and I can’t thank each of you enough for cheering me on throughout the year.

Here’s to a great 2012!

Good Times 2011–Part One

2011-12-28T22:31:00.001-08:00

You know what? 2011 was quite a good year!

Happy 2011 – nothing like ringing in the New Year with a great friend and an all night party!

January

Started photography class – really interesting. I’ve forgotten everything I learned.
Thai at Home Cooking Class – I’ve raved about this class all year long.

February

I met Chibi at a dinner party – little did I know that naked little Xolo was coming to be my new roomie.
Chinatown grocery shopping – such fun. I really need to do this again.
Snowpocalypse – doesn’t Mother Nature know it doesn’t snow in Victoria?

March

Chibi arrives – and never leaves. :)
Culinaire Victoria 2011 – foodie fun at it’s finest.

April

Chibi’s One-Monthiversary – clearly we’re a couple now.
Curry Party – complete with delicious chick pea curry and refreshing Kachumar salad.

Hockey playoffs start – and so do my incessant posts about the Canucks.
German Sparkle Party – you know you want to listen to that nutty song over and over again.
Sooke Harbour House – one of the most delicious meals I’ve ever had, complete with lovely overnight stay and gorgeous views. {Part One} {Part Two} {Part Three}

May

Empress Afternoon Tea – nothing but the finest finger sandwiches for my Mom!
Backyard Shrimp Boil – bet you didn’t know this is actually where Michael and I met. That dog in the photos? Yep, that’s his Burl. :)

June

The one where I sneak in a mention of our first date – but don’t give you any details. mwahaha.
Trip to Vancouver – complete with Canucks Cup fever!
{Post One} {Post Two} {Post Three} {Post Four}

Tragedy Strikes – when the Canucks lost the Stanley Cup.
True Spirit – stupid people rioted, lovely people cleaned up.
V.I.C. Fest – local wine, local beer, local art, local music, local food, good friends and good times.
Fernwood Bites – more local food, more local wine, more good friends and good times.

Wow, all of that went down in just the first six months. If I ever complain of being bored please refer me back to my own blog.

Part Two tomorrow.

All Christmased Out

2011-12-28T10:00:00.000-08:00

I will leave the decorations up through NYE but I’m so done with the holiday treats. No more chips and dip, no more missing pieces from the gingerbread house, no more fingers in the cookie tin.

I don’t even know why I kept any of my holiday baking in my freezer. I’m sure it will only taunt me and wag it’s finger at my too tight jeans.

But you…you! You still get to enjoy my Nanaimo Bars from afar. Maybe file this one away for next year. I don’t want you blaming me for your too tight jeans.

Nanaimo Bars (by a true Nanaimo girl)

* yields 20-25 bars depending on how you cut them

Ingredients:

Layer One

1/2 cup butter (or margarine), room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
5 tbsp cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup medium coconut
2 cups graham cracker crumbs

Layer Two

1/4 cup butter (or margarine), room temperature
3 tbsp milk
2 tbsp vanilla custard powder, sifted
2 cups icing sugar, sifted

Layer Three

4 oz semi-sweet chocolate
1 tbsp butter (or margarine)

Directions:

Layer One

Combine graham cracker crumbs, coconut, walnuts and cocoa – set aside.
Place butter, sugar, cocoa, and vanilla in a metal bowl set atop a pot of lightly boiling water (or use double boiler). Stir until butter melts and ingredients combine.
Add a big scoop of the warm mixture to the beaten egg and whisk to temper. Immediately add egg mixture to bowl of warm mixture and whisk to combine. Remove from heat.
Add dry mixture to wet mixture and stir well to combine. Press mixture into a greased 8x8 or 9x9 square pan. Cool.

Layer Two

Using a hand mixer, blend all ingredients together until smooth and creamy. Spread over Layer One.

Layer Three

Using the double boiler set up again, melt the chocolate and butter together, stirring until smooth. Spread carefully over Layer Two.
Chill for at least one hour before cutting into squares using a sharp knife dipped in hot water.

Every year since 1996 I’ve attempted to make these as good as my Mom used to. And every year since 1996 one layer gives me grief. This year the bottom layer is my best yet (!) but the easiest layer, the chocolate, decided to torment me and not get smooth.

Bumpy chocolate tastes better anyway. No?

And with that, Chibi says ‘Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight’.

Even hairless dogs get turkey comas.

Memory Walk

2011-12-27T10:00:00.000-08:00

Some people like to show their kids where they used to live, or played soccer, or swam in the Summer. I took my dog for a walk around my old high school.

Parts of it seem exactly the same. And other parts seem like a totally different school. I wonder if a community garden would have worked during my high school years?

As we drove up my Mom’s street I realized this Tot-Lot is still there! It’s not like I never visit, but I guess I just assumed this death trap of a play park wouldn’t be there any more. Those spring based toys were dangerous!

I swear I rode this horse a thousand times in the 80’s.

Nothing like realizing that to slap yourself in the face with your age. :)

Christmas in Collage

2011-12-26T19:00:00.000-08:00

This year my family decided not to exchange gifts…except for me and my Mom. Clearly I like songs, TV and kitchen stuff. :)

My uncle did contribute gifts in the form of reprints of pictures of my Grandparents in honour of my Grandfather who passed away recently.

Grandma and Grandpa got married in 1949. Love this photo.

Then we spent 457 hours preparing dinner and 4.57 minutes eating it.

Our traditional family Christmas dinner:

15lb turkey
bread and sausage stuffing
gravy
the best mashed potatoes in the world (!)
smashed carrots and rutabega
Brussels sprouts
Nana’s Cabbage Salad
cranberry sauce (from a can…shhhhh!)

Don’t worry. The pumpkin pie gets in my belly right.now.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T13:53:00.001-08:00

Occasional Eats

2011-12-24T10:45:00.000-08:00

You know how there are some recipes you only bring out for certain occasions? And you know how Christmas is loaded with those special recipes? And you know how every year when you break out those recipes you wonder why you only make this stuff once a year?

You do? Good.

That means you understand why I was excited to make a batch of my Smoked Salmon Dip for a holiday party last weekend. And you understand why I actually grinned when I bought the salmon. And you understand why I kept a heaping dish of the dip for myself instead of taking it all to the party.

Do me a favour. If you happen to make this (and you really should!) any time other than Christmas, please invite me over.

Other seasonally Christmas treats and eats:

Nanaimo Bars
Smoked oysters
Cheese balls
Bacon Dippers (best crackers EVER)
Grandma’s Cabbage Salad

Aside from the obvious turkey and trimmings, what are your favourite foods that only come around once a year?

Happy Christmas Eve everyone!!

Every Day I’m Truffling

2011-12-23T10:00:00.000-08:00

Well, we can all thank Pinterest for this one. The biggest thing I’ve learned since signing up a month ago is that apparently damn near anything can be turned into a truffle. Particularly any kind of cookie.

Pinterest definition of truffle: Ball of yumminess dipped in chocolate. :)

Kind of like a cake pop in that you pulverize the cookies, add icing, roll into balls, dip and decorate. Good times, good times.

Sugar Cookie Truffles

*yields approximately 24 tasty treats

Ingredients:

24-30 sugar cookies, not frosted (homemade or store bought)
4 tbsp cream cheese, room temp
1 tbsp butter, room temp
1 tbsp icing sugar
wee splash of vanilla
drizzle of milk for thinning
2 cups chocolate of your choice (I made a batch of white chocolate and a batch of semi-sweet chocolate)
2 tbsp butter, shortening, or coconut oil
festive sprinkles (optional)

Directions:

Break up your sugar cookies, place in food processor (or good blender) and process until a fine crumb is reached. If you have any chunks larger than your pinky fingernail, sift those out. Set crushed cookies aside in mixing bowl.
Use the food processor again to mix together cream cheese, butter, icing sugar and vanilla to make a quick, slightly thick butter cream.
Start adding the crushed cookies to the frosting in the food processor, pulsing to incorporate. If the mixture gets too dry add a tiny drizzle of milk. When the mixture comes together without crumbling apart too much it’s ready.
Scoop by the heaping tablespoon into your hand, squeeze and roll into balls. Place on a baking sheet and let set in the freezer for 15 minutes before dipping.
When ready for dipping use a double boiler over medium-low heat (or microwave) to combine chocolate and butter/shortening/coconut oil. Stir frequently until smooth.
Using a skewer, poke each cookie ball and dip into chocolate mixture. Place back on baking sheet. Before chocolate completely dries, add sprinkles if using. When all cookie balls are coated, place in refrigerator or freezer to set.
Store in refrigerator or freezer, covered.

*Baker’s notes: This took some trial and error to get the right consistency. I really had to squeeze them tight when initially rolling into balls. Also, my food processor isn’t big enough for step 3 so I made the icing in my stand mixer using the paddle attachment and added the cookie crumbs that way.

These took a bit of work, but are such a fun way to present a festive cookie! They make a super cute gift and if you don’t tell the recipient what’s inside they are a tasty surprise. :)

What cookies would you turn into truffles? I’m thinking ginger snaps would be be deeeeelish coated in dark chocolate. nom.

Sugar and Everything Nice

2011-12-22T13:40:00.001-08:00

Remember when I boldly stated that I had a list of fifteen things to bake this holiday season? Yes, I’m a nutter. I think I pulled off five of the fifteen recipes. Who was I kidding?

Sugar Cookies aren’t even a usual thing on my Christmas baking list. I normally make them for Valentine’s Day (who doesn’t love a pink sprinkled heart on V-Day?!), but for whatever reason I had them on this year’s recipe list and they made the cut for actual cookies baked.

Basic Rolled Sugar Cookies with Egg Nog Icing

*yields approximately 4 dozen cookies depending on the sizes you cut

Cookie Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Cookie Directions:

In a large bowl (or stand mixer) cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
In a separate bowl stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Carefully add dry mixture to wet mixture and mix until combined.
Cover and chill dough for at least one hour (or wrap more tightly and chill overnight).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
On a floured surface, roll dough out with a floured rolling pin to about 1/4 inch thickness. Cut desired shapes and continue to reroll excess dough and keep cutting until all cookies are cut.
Place cookies one inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 6-8 minutes. Watch carefully…cookie bottoms should NOT brown. Cool a few minutes on baking sheet then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Icing Ingredients:

1 cup icing sugar, sifted
2-3 tbsp egg nog
2-3 tsp brown rice syrup (light corn syrup works too)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of nutmeg
food colouring (optional…I never bother)
festive sprinkles

Icing Directions:

Stir together sifted icing sugar and egg nog until smooth. Whisk in syrup, vanilla and nutmeg until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more syrup and/or egg nog.
If using food colouring, divide icing into separate bowls and add colourings.
Dip cooled cookies into icing, or paint on icing with a pastry brush (I find this the easiest). Sprinkle with festive sprinkles while icing is still wet.
Let set at least an hour before storing in an airtight container.

I made two and a half dozen large cut cookies and used the rest of the batter to make one large flat pan cookie which I then pulverized and turned into Sugar Cookie Truffles.

Say what?! Yes. Sugar Cookie Truffles. Stay tuned. :)

More Bacon and Blue Cheese

2011-12-21T09:55:00.000-08:00

When Michael and I started planning the second dinner party I asked him if I could contribute another fun appetizer. I was so pleased with the Epic Cheese Ball that I wanted to see if I could create another delicious pre-dinner snack.

We had leftover blue cheese and bacon from that cheese ball so I immediately thought of a recipe I had at home that would include those items. Except when I got home it turned out the stuffed date recipe I was thinking of didn’t have bacon in it. Oooops.

Well clearly the bacon is the most important part of this situation so I did what any red blooded foodie would do. I made up my own recipe. And it rocks…you know, if I can toot my own horn here.

Bacon Wrapped Blue Cheese Stuffed Dates

Ingredients:

18 fresh Medjool dates, pitted
3 oz crumbled blue cheese
6 slices bacon, sliced into thirds
maple syrup for drizzling (optional)

* If you aren’t a blue cheese fan this would likely work well with cream cheese or goat cheese too…maybe one of the flavoured ones. Yum.

Directions:

Mix a small drizzle of syrup into the blue cheese.
Slice each date lengthwise to remove pit. Fill each slit date with equal amounts of blue cheese. Lightly squeeze dates closed.
Carefully wrap each date with a small piece of bacon, having the thicker overlapped parts on the bottom. Placed wrapped dates in a well sprayed baking dish.
Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 15 minutes. When bacon is looking almost done, turn on the broiler for 2-3 minutes to crisp up the tops. Watch carefully as the bacon will burn quickly.
Drizzle lightly with syrup and let stand 5 minutes to cool before serving.

* When you wrap bacon around something healthy they cancel each other out. Honest.

Holiday Feast Round Three

2011-12-20T10:49:00.000-08:00

When holiday feasting if you go traditional for Rounds One and Two, you must go non-traditional for Round Three. Last weekend Baked Ham, this weekend…Ultimate Paella!

Nothing says Christmas like Spanish-style seafood and rice. :)

Since I cooked last weekend, Michael cheffed it up this time. He wanted a one-pot wonder with some pizzazz and came up with idea of a giant delicious feast of Paella. One pot turned into four pans…but improvisation is part of the fun, no? A trip through the Google machine brought us to this pretty amazing Tyler Florence recipe.

An Ultimate Paella

adapted from Foodnetwork.com

Feeds an army (10+ people)

Ingredients:

Spice Mix for chicken (2 tbsp Spanish paprika, 2 tbsp dried oregano, salt and freshly ground pepper)
16 chicken pieces, thighs and/or breasts (bone-in, skin on)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4-5 Spanish chorizo sausages, thickly sliced
1 small Spanish onion, diced
1 small green pepper, diced
1 small red pepper, diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
Bunch flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped, reserve some for garnish
1 large can whole tomatoes, drained and crushed
6 cups short grain Spanish rice
8 cups water, warm
Generous pinch saffron threads
1 pound clams, scrubbed
1 pound jumbo shrimp, peeled and de-veined
1 pound large scallops
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup frozen sweet peas, thawed
Lemon wedges, for serving

Directions:

Combine Chicken Spice Mix ingredients in a small bowl. Rub the spice mix all over the chicken and marinate chicken for 1 hour in the refrigerator, covered.
Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté the chorizo until browned, remove and reserve. Add chicken skin-side down and brown on all sides. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from pan and reserve. (Note: We did this in advance.)
In the same pan, make a sofrito by sautéing the onions and peppers over med-high heat for about 2 minutes, then add garlic and parsley and cook for another minute or two. Then add tomatoes and cook until the mixture caramelizes a bit.
(At this point we divided the mixture evenly into three skillets to accommodate the quantity of rice.) Fold in the rice and stir-fry to coat the grains. Pour in 4 cups of the water and simmer for 10 minutes, gently stirring so the rice cooks evenly and absorbs the liquid.
Add chicken, chorizo, and saffron.
Add the clams, shrimp and scallops…tucking the seafood into the rice.
Continue adding water as needed to help the rice fill out and cook through.
Let it simmer, without much stirring, until the rice is al dente, for about 15 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper if desired. When the seafood is cooked and the rice looks fluffy and moist, turn the heat up for 40 seconds until you can smell the rice toast at the bottom, then it's perfect. (Note: This toasted rice bottom is called socarrat.)
Remove from heat and rest for 5 minutes. Stir in the peas. Garnish with parsley and lemon wedges.

It sounds like a lot of work, but we did as much in advance as we could. Prepped the veggies. Cooked the sausage and chicken. Cleaned the seafood. Mashed the tomatoes. Thawed the peas.

When our guests arrived and had wine in hand we ventured on over to the stove and got the show on the road. Michael rocked it out even when the rice outgrew the first three pans and he had to start a fourth “overflow” pan. We enlisted one of our guests as an additional sous chef to help stir and it all came together!

We do highly recommend getting a real paella pan and maybe reducing the amount of rice, but aside from the mass quantity this produced we were really happy with the recipe. Personally I’d love to make up a batch using just the shrimp and chorizo…stars of the show!

And after all that I damn near failed at getting a photo of the finished product. Too busy filling my face. Nom.

Grocery List Game

2011-12-17T12:00:00.000-08:00

Another weekend, another dinner party. This time Michael is cooking but I’m helping out by picking up his groceries.

Who knows what he’s making?

Paula Dean came to dinner.

2011-12-16T11:00:00.000-08:00

I have two words for you.

Cheese. Ball.

No wait! Three words.

Epic. Cheese. Ball.

A failsafe way to provide good food at your party is to invite Paula Dean. If you can’t get her to accept your invitation, the next best thing is to make one of her recipes. Especially when the recipe involves the cheese trifecta of cream, cheddar and blue. Oh and bacon. Never forget the bacon.

This was honestly soooo delicious. It costs a few extra pennies to make (although in all fairness we landed up with leftover bacon, blue cheese, and pecans and we used the parsley in other dishes) but it comes together fairly easily and everyone truly raved about it.

Even though we served a full ham dinner after this, I sort of feel like this was the show stealer. But maybe that’s because I was in a delicious cheese haze.

Nutty Bacon Cheese Ball

adapted from Paula Dean

Ingredients:

1 package (250 gram) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup milk
2 cups old cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 cup blue cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup green onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp diced pimento, drained (I found a tiny jar in the pickle aisle at my supermarket)
3/4 cup pecans, chopped, divided
10 slices bacon, cooked, drained, finely crumbled and divided
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup minced parsley
1 tablespoon poppy seeds (I didn’t have any and we didn’t miss them at all.

Directions:

The original recipe says to use a mixer with flat beater but I was working on this at Michael’s and found using a hand mixer with regular beaters worked just fine.

Place cream cheese in a bowl and soften with a mixer for about one minute. Stop and scrape bowl. Turn to speed two and gradually add milk, mixing until well blended about one more minute. Stop and scrape bowl. Add cheeses, onions, pimentos, half of the bacon and half the pecans. Turn to speed three and beat until well blended, about another minute. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Transfer mixture to a large piece of plastic wrap. Form into a ball and wrap tightly. (This is a bit mucky but just get the basic shape and don’t worry about it being perfect or pretty.)
Refrigerate (or freeze) at least 2 hours. If you opt to freeze, remove it approximately 10 minutes before moving on to the next step.
Combine the remaining bacon and remaining pecans, parsley and poppy seeds in a shallow dish. Remove the plastic wrap and roll the cheese ball lightly in the bacon/nut mixture until evenly coated. Wrap it back up in plastic wrap and refrigerate again until ready to use or serve right away.
Serve with crackers, fresh veggies and apple slices. Prepare to swoon.

* Note: I found this to be a quite large cheese ball, so divided it up and made one large for the dinner party and a small one for the freezer.

Holiday Feast Side Dishes

2011-12-15T11:00:00.000-08:00

Did you see the deeeeeelish, juicy Maple Dijon Glazed Ham?!! Did you?! If you didn’t, go look. Or we can’t be friends anymore.

Besides…without seeing the main dish, how are any of these side dishes going to do you any good? Hmmmm. You know I’m right. :)

This should be a post about three side dishes, but I’ve deemed the Scalloped Potatoes unworthy of any further discussion. Except to tell you that if you think parboiling the thinly sliced taters before mixing them with the sauce and baking them sounds like a good idea I’m here to tell you that it’s not. Food Network recipe FAIL. The slices all fell apart.

But it’s OK because we rocked the Maple Carrots and Dijon Braised Brussels Sprouts. Oh yes.

Easy Peasy Maple Glazed Carrots

I read like 500 carrot recipes before deciding that it didn’t need to be rocket science. Really, as long as they aren’t overcooked you’re golden.

Bring chopped carrots to a boil in lightly salted water. When boiling, reduce to med-high heat and cook at rolling simmer for 7-9 minutes (or more if you have a huge quantity of carrots) until just soft enough to poke with a fork or sharp knife.
Turn heat off, drain carrots and return them to the same warm pot over still-warm element to “dry” any remaining water. Add large pat of butter and drizzle of real maple syrup. Stir to coat and keep hot.
To be a real fancypants, stir in a handful of chopped parsley and sprinkle with cracked pepper right before serving.

For the Dijon-Braised Brussels Sprouts take a trip on over to SmittenKitchen and follow her recipe. I followed it to the letter and it was a huge hit! Again, the trick is to make sure your sprouts aren’t over or undercooked. Totally delicious.

So there you have it. A holiday meal complete with glazed ham, scalloped potatoes, Brussels Sprouts, and carrots. We added bakery fresh rolls and hazelnut cheesecake and called it all pretty amazing. Family dinner WIN.

Me: I’m so shocked I pulled this shiz off! Woah.

Ridiculously Easy Baked Ham

2011-12-14T10:59:00.000-08:00

Dear people, if I can make this crazy delicious baked ham then so can you. In attempting to add to my “home cooking, classic meal” repertoire I jumped at the chance to make my first ham dinner. Turns out the side dishes were far more stressful than the main dish!

First, put on your retro apron. It helps you channel the Mom from Leave it to Beaver, which is always the first step in making a home cooked meal. :)

Second, don’t let your boyfriend take candid photos of you manhandling a ham. There are certainly cuter things you could be doing in the kitchen.

Inspired by the Thanksgiving episode of Cake Boss, where he prepares a couple of bigass hams for the bakery staff, I got to hunting for my own recipe on Pinterest. I liked the ideas from a few of them, so put together a method of my own. Maple Dijon Glazed Ham.

Ingredients:

10-12 pound, bone-in smoked ham (I had a choice between ham butt and ham shoulder…I chose butt)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup real maple syrup
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
fresh cracked pepper
1 can pineapple rings, each sliced in half

Directions:

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Place ham in large roasting pan cut side down, and wrap pan tightly with aluminum foil. Cook ham for approximately 2.5 to 3 hours (depending on the size of your ham…approximately 15 minutes per pound) to heat through.
In the meantime, make the glaze by heating the syrup, sugar, Dijon and pepper in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisking to combine and simmering a few minutes to thicken.
About 30-40 minutes before you are ready to serve remove the ham from the oven and remove the foil. Baste the ham with the amazing juices in the pan. Attach pineapple slices with toothpicks, and brush the entire ham liberally with the maple glaze.
Return the uncovered ham to the oven for 30 minutes. Baste and add more glaze every 10 minutes. Right before removing from oven turn on the broiler to brown the pineapple for a few minutes.
Remove from oven, baste again, and let stand for 5-10 minutes before cutting. We pulled the pineapple off to serve alongside, and also drizzled the sliced ham with leftover warm glaze.

*no Whiskey was ~~harmed~~ used in the cooking of this ham.

This was sooooo moist and delicious if I do say so myself. Once I saw how great it turned out I completely stopped worrying about the shitty potatoes and loaded up on an extra ham slice or two.

A little applesauce and extra Dijon on the side made my plate happy. And the pile of leftovers for pea soup doesn’t hurt either.

Now, who has that soup recipe for me?

Holiday Feast Madness

2011-12-13T14:01:00.001-08:00

So Friday night we put on our fancy new Christmas clothes, sipped on some bubbly, then let the lovely people at The Fairmont Empress feed us dinner.

Michael’s company holiday party treated us to a delicious meal complete with favourites such as turkey and stuffing, but also roast beast and to-die-for blue cheese cannelloni (!!) that I may have to replicate sometime, if only to swim in the sauce.

Good thing my new party dress is stretchy. Holiday Feast Round One Success!

After snoozing in our glorious hotel king-sized bed and making friends with the resident seagull (Michael fed him chocolates!) we grabbed some quick brunch and then made our way home to start preparing Round Two of our Holiday Feast Madness.

Round Two involved a bigass ham dinner for Michael’s siblings and significants. I’ve never made a dinner for eight for my own family, but sure! Why not do it for his?! Yes, I like to torture myself.

After a minor meltdown involving a scalloped potato recipe that failed me, we pulled it off! *Ham, Brussels, carrots, and “potato casserole” for eight. Who cares about the lame potatoes when you have a delicious ham the size of your head? And wine…lots of wine. :)

Holiday Feast Spiderman says Round Two Success!

* recipes coming soon to a blog near you.

Seasonal Loves

2011-12-10T11:00:00.000-08:00

Right now I’m probably eating French Toast or Eggs Benedict and wishing I didn’t drink so many cocktails last night. Today is a busy day so please forgive me while I send this pre-written post your way. Don’t worry, I’ll make up for it with a story about how I’m making my first ham dinner and serving it to Michael’s family. That’s definitely worth waiting for!

One beautiful large pomegranate produced almost two cups of arils. My Greek yogurt with Kashi Honey Almond cereal had never been so happy.

Hershey finally answered my dreams. Chocolate Mint Kisses.

Who doesn’t love a ‘red cup’? Don’t be a hater.

Cutie patootie. Peel me one…or ten.

Candy Cane Lane. Warms you right down to your Christmas socks.

Missing is the Egg Nog. and Rum. Yes. Someone prepare a vat. I’m going to need it for courage to serve the ham dinner!

Tonight we party!

2011-12-09T15:24:00.001-08:00

Happy weekend one and all!

Snack of the Moment: Kale Chips

2011-12-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

You can call me late to this particular health foodie party. Kale chip recipes have made the food blog rounds many times and somehow I never grabbed on to the idea until now. I finally remembered to buy kale, remembered to use said kale, and indeed found myself a fun new snack addiction.

A Twitter survey revealed that the top favourite kale chip toppers are seemingly: nutritional yeast, cayenne, and sea salt (not necessarily all together!). I’ve yet to venture on into the health food store to find the ever popular nutritional yeast but I did embrace the other two seasonings and a couple of mix-ups of my own.

Kale Chips Round One: Sesame Soy

low sodium soy sauce
rice vinegar
olive oil
sesame oil (just a few drops will do ya)
cayenne
coarse sea salt
toasted sesame seeds

Kale Chips Round Two: Lemon Parmesan

fresh lemon juice (citrus helps us absorb the yummy kale vitamins!)
white wine vinegar
olive oil
dried Italian herbs
coarse sea salt
cracked pepper
fresh grated parmesan cheese

Kale Chips Round Three: Balsamic Rosemary

olive oil
balsamic vinegar
lots of coarse sea salt
minced fresh rosemary

Clearly it’s a drizzle of this and a pinch of that…no strict recipe required. Just wash and dry your bunch of kale, remove the stems and cut away any tough veins, tear into bite size pieces, and mix in your ingredients.

A few tips though:

Remember to cut out the coarse stem from the kale leaves. It tastes like tree bark (or so I would think!).
If you want a drier, crispier chip keep the liquid ingredients reigned in. Too much oil will give you a chewier, more wilty chip.
Massage your marinade into the torn kale leaves by hand. Thus ensuring equal coating and distribution of fun flavours.
Although you can do a fast bake of these babies at 375 degrees or so, I like to slow bake mine at a super low temp for about 60 minutes. (Lowest temp on my oven is 180 degrees).
Providing you don’t eat them all within minutes of removing them from the oven, these chippies keep quite nicely in a zipper bag.

What’s your favourite kale chip flavour combo? It seems to me that the possibilities are truly endless.

Eat, Live, Sour Cream

2011-12-07T15:02:00.001-08:00

Maybe it’s odd, but one staple in my refrigerator is low fat sour cream. It’s one of those condiments that I find useful on almost a daily basis…whether it be to mix with salsa to add to eggs, or swirl into canned tomato soup to make it a little creamier, or to pile on top of a reheated enchilada.

My point is: I love it. :)

So when Jenna posted this recipe for Chicken Paprika over on Eat, Live, Run I knew I had to print it out and get it into my meal plan right away.

The best part about this recipe (aside from the 3/4 cup of sour cream…yummmm!) is that the ingredient list is quite simple and I already had everything on hand. Chicken, onion, paprika. Easy.

She mentions egg noodles in her recipe post and I just knew I had to have those instead of the homemade dumplings. I love egg noodles!

For photographic purposes I poured the Chicken Paprika over the noodles, but next time I’d go for the less pretty option and add the noodles directly to the pan with the chicken and sauce before serving. Delicious has to trump beauty!

The end result was creamy, filling, a wee bit spicy, and perfectly belly warming. Michael and I agree that this should make it into a regular recipe rotation.

Sour cream for the win.

My Fitness Pal has this recipe weighing in at a reasonable 250 calories per serving (not including the noodles or dumplings, using light sour cream, and based on 4 portions).

Brussels with Bacon

2011-12-06T17:00:00.000-08:00

So. Um. Yeah. Clearly I’ve been out of blogger practice since I managed to leave my camera and notes at Michael’s this weekend. Sorry to leave you all hangin’!

I guess I was distracted by all of the shiny lights and ornaments.

But you don’t care about that! You want to know about delicious, warm and lovely comfort food. Cool weather Sunday dinner recipes. Recipes to enjoy by candle light in your comfy pants with your woolly socks. I can help!

Would you believe I planned a whole chicken dinner because I wanted to make a fancy dish of Brussels sprouts? All that talk a couple of weeks back about American Thanksgiving had me craving those crazy little green beasts.

It was so totally worth the effort. And I mean, really…was I that hard done by having to eat mashed potatoes and roast chicken in order to justify my Brussels sprouts recipe? I think not.

Braised Brussels Sprouts with Apples, Bacon and Pecans

Ingredients:

1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed and quartered
4 slices bacon, cooked and chopped
1 small apple (Pink Lady was perfect), diced
1 shallot, sliced (or 1/4 cup thinly sliced onion)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup chicken stock (or water)
1/4 cup pecan pieces, toasted
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper
squeeze of lemon

Directions:

Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over med-high heat. Add shallots and cook until becoming clear. Add garlic, stir and cook for 1 minute, then add Brussels sprouts. Sautee until starting to brown.
Add chicken stock, bring to low bubble, reduce heat to medium and cover. Cook for 3-4 minutes, checking to see if more liquid needs to be added. When Brussels start to get tender, add apples, stir and cover again. Cook until al dente.
Remove lid, add balsamic, and bring heat back up for final browning. When Brussels seem “glazed” remove from heat and stir in bacon and pecan pieces.
Taste and add salt and pepper if desired. Add squeeze of lemon right before plating.

Now I need to go the supermarket AGAIN. I WANT these. It has been a whole WEEK you know.

Fifteen things I so totally don’t need to bake for Christmas…

2011-12-03T13:00:00.000-08:00

I live alone. My family lives out of town. My boyfriend and I ‘try’ to keep the treats to a minimum. Clearly I’m an insane person for desiring to bake all of this stuff!

But it’s baking season!! Waaaaah!!

My own personal annual standard recipes:

Whipped Shortbread
Mayan Chocolate Sparklers
Nanaimo Bars
Butter Tarts (but this year attempting to make my own tart shells…eek!)

A few traditional extras:

Sugar Cookies (really just an excuse to buy edible glitter)
Pumpkin Fudge
Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies
Pecan Pie
Gingerbread cookies

Inspired by Pinterest:

(honestly, this whole post can be blamed on Pinterest!)

And a couple of recipes just for Michael because he loves lemony things:

White Chocolate Lemon Truffles
Mini Lemon Tarts (or Lemon Bars if I don’t get a handle on that whole tart shell pastry thing…)

Are you a crazy Christmas baker? What are your must-bakes each year? Can you help me with my pastry phobia?

It’s Soup Season

2011-12-02T12:59:00.001-08:00

Part of the fun of taking some time off from day-to-day food photos is that I have been able to do some batch cooking and not bore you all to death with repeatedly showing that I ate the same dinner three nights in a row. I didn’t realize how exhausting and pricey it is trying to find something new and exciting to showcase every day.

One of my favourite things to make any time of year, but especially when the weather turns chilly is soup! It’s warm, filling, delicious, and generally hard to bugger up. It makes perfect lunches, easy dinners, and keeps my freezer stocked with a few varieties at a time.

Every week or two I think of a recipe to try out, aiming for at least six servings so I can eat some, share some, and freeze some.

So far this season I have tackled:

… And just this week I cooked up a new recipe using the leftovers from the roast chicken dinner we had on Sunday night.

Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup with Kale

Ingredients:

4 cups chicken stock (I made my own from the chicken carcass)
1 cup water
1 can fat free evaporated milk
2 cups cooked chicken meat (I got about one cup from our leftover chicken and cooked up a couple of chicken thighs to get the rest)
1 cup cooked wild rice
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups kale, stem and coarse ribs removed, torn into bite size pieces
1 tbsp corn starch
drizzle of olive oil
1 tsp fresh rosemary, minced
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large pot, heat olive oil over med-high heat. When heated add carrots, celery and onions. Stir to coat and let cook a few minutes then add garlic and rosemary. Continue stirring and cooking until garlic starts to brown.
Add chicken stock and water. Bring to low boil and reduce to simmer until veggies become tender (al dente) … approximately 12 minutes.
Add chicken and rice, simmer until heated through. Mix corn starch with 2 tbsp of water and combine well. Add milk to soup, stir, then add corn starch mixture and return soup to a low boil, stirring regularly, until soup starts to thicken.
Reduce heat and add kale. Cover and simmer until kale wilts.
Taste and add salt and pepper as desired.

I ran this recipe through My Fitness Pal and it clocks in at a lovely 222 calories per serving, based on six servings. My belly is happy, my freezer is happy, and Michael will be happy since there is enough for him too. :)

What are your favourite soup recipes to batch cook? I will need a new one for next week.

A Welcome Back List

2011-12-01T12:00:00.000-08:00

1 – Yes, I’m welcoming myself back. I’m a big deal around here you know.

2 – My blogging hiatus has been liberating. Do you realize how exciting it is to just slap soup in a bowl and eat crackers from a box without taking a picture? It is!

3 – Do you also realize that even when I’m just slapping a meal together it still ends up looking photo ready? I actually like making my food pretty.

4 – As you probably know, I went to Greece for a wicked vacay. What you might not know is that I did indeed blog about it:

5 – I had a birthday while on hiatus. I got older. I had a fabulous dinner date with my honey. I ate cupcakes made special by a good friend.

6 – Since I had all this free time from not blogging I finally got going on Pinterest. Follow me so I can follow you and together we can build our cookie, Christmas, hair style, and DIY home decor empires.

7 – In keeping up with Social Media in a super timely way *eye roll* I finally created a Facebook page for my blog. Just another way for me to annoy the crap out of my loved ones and all of you. Please like me!

PS: I’m on Twitter too. Social Media Trifecta!

8 – Michael and I watched all four seasons of Breaking Bad back-to-back. We’re now in withdrawals…big time. Apparently just watching meth on TV can be addictive.

I’ve supplemented with Mad Men and now I want an entire wardrobe of hoop skirts and cardigans. And Joan’s hair.

9 – Chibi wants you to know the Christmas season has now officially begun and she’s clearly very excited about it. Let the onslaught of egg nog, cookies, decorations, snowflakes, and Holiday movies begin.

10 – I have been stockpiling ideas, recipes, and photos for lots of yummy eats, treats, and drinks. Thanks for allowing me the time off to recharge my batteries. Here’s hoping the fresh brain brings something you will all love. :)

Welcome back everyone!

The Good, the Bad, and the Blog

2011-10-14T14:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Holy moly has it already been a month since I last posted? Oh noes! That means I’ve already been home from vacation for almost two weeks. How dare the real world intervene!!

The good news is I have started posting some of my favourite Greek vacation photos over at my photo blog, Such a Rebel. Please take a trip on over and check them out. I actually took a whopping 1700 photos and managed to cull it down to less than 200 for your viewing pleasure. Of course I’m not posting all of those at once…I figure on a week’s worth of posts to take you through our whole trip. :)

The bad news is I am taking a wee break from food blogging. In the four+ years I have been doing this I have really never taken a break and after the hiatus while on vacation I just felt so relieved to not have to report in every day. It’s liberating to eat a meal without having to worry about getting a lovely photo before digging in.

I have no idea what the future of this blog holds, or when I’ll be back. A little reinvention is in order. Right now I’m enjoying the freedom and trying to lose a couple of pounds. I suspect I’ll wake up one morning with renewed interest and hope all of you will still be around when that happens. Your support means the world to me!

I’m still tweeting my heart out so please feel free to follow me and give a shout out. :)

Until we meet again…. xox, Jaime

Bon Voyage

2011-09-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

Hi kids! Right now I’ve been up since 5am traveling across the skies on my way to Greece! Tiffaney and I will think of you all fondly as we walk the beaches, enjoy the feta cheese, and dip our toes in the Aegean Sea.

I haven’t scheduled any extra posts while I’m gone so don’t miss me tooooo much! See you in two weeks!

Look Out World

2011-09-14T16:01:00.001-07:00

Well, I think I can finally breathe. I’ve got my bag pretty damn near packed, my Euros and Passport ready to rock, and I checked in for all of my flights this morning. Look out Greece, we’re coming!!!!

Yesterday I broke down and ordered up Pumpkin Spice for breakfast. I was thinking I would wait until I got back from vacation because I didn’t want Summer to end too soon, but the grey sky that showed up here yesterday convinced me to get into the pumpkin mood.

For lunch I was really just cleaning out the fridge. Let’s see, the produce drawers had a wimpy bunch of green onions, a couple of random radishes, and like two leaves of lettuce screaming to be used.

Thankfully I also had half a carton of eggs and the remnants of a loaf of bread. Egg salad to the rescue!

Blueberries, granola and soy milk for dinner. A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.

I cashed in a Groupon I bought for Om Nailspa months ago to get a mani-pedi before hitting the air. Figured I might as well get Summery bright toes one last time for the season, and something dark and sharp on my fingers (don’t worry I bought the polish for touch ups).

After a whirlwind trip through my apartment doing a final vacuum, laying out my final clothing choices, and collecting up all of my camera bits and pieces for packing I was off to Michael’s to share up that Peach & Blueberry Cobbler.

Now I’m just finishing up loose ends for work, packing the dog up for her adventure to the other Jamie’s, and dealing with this pile of lovely.

That bag will be so organized, airport security won’t know what hit them.

Next stop: 430am wake up call.

Getting Ready

2011-09-13T11:47:00.001-07:00

Yesterday may very well have been my last normal eating day for about two weeks. Good thing there was coffee and a banana & almond butter sammich.

You see…I’ve let my fridge dwindle down to the near side of empty in anticipation of my leaving on a jet plane this Thursday. Hence the leftover red Thai curry.

The snacks are getting all random up in here. Iced coffee with ham slices? Eat it up.

While running the 457 inevitable pre-vacay errands after work (nothing like driving to three stores to buy extra kitty litter) dinner was procured from the supermarket. Clearly I’m addicted to pasta and mayo.

And because I don’t already have a two page to-do list and a double sided packing list that needs paring down I thought it would be fun to make a Peach and Blueberry Cobbler at 9:30 last night.

This is what I do.

I didn’t even get to eat it. Just stared at it longingly while it cooled and I washed a sink full of dishes, cleaned my bathtub, and stared at my shoes trying to figure out which ones will be the most comfy and least touristy.

I’ll be sure to gnaw my way through this beauty today in between two big work projects, three loads of laundry, and choosing whether to bring an ugly (yet comfy) little daypack or a more stylin’ (yet uncomfortable) shoulder bag.

Travel prep is no joke. Cobbler helps.

Drink, Eat and Be Sunny

2011-09-12T23:37:00.001-07:00

This past weekend was totally hectic and totally fun. I worked, I drank, I ate, and I chillaxed. Pretty much in that order.

On Friday afternoon I headed on down to the first day of The Great Canadian Beer Festival to work my volunteer shift. I volunteer because a) it’s super fun …and… b) you get into the festival for free. :)

For the second year in a row I was a Booth Steward…which is a fancy term for ‘token taker’. I spent my afternoon and early evening hanging out with the super nice folks in the Saltspring Island Ales booth. We went full tilt with a busy line up of thirsty beer lovers for just over 5 hours in the hot, hot sun.

My body was aching and my tummy was rumbling but I had a total blast.

Saturday morning I made my way back to the park. This time to meet friends and stuff my pockets full of my own tokens to be cashing in for beers from around the country and beyond. After multiple samples I walked away with two favourites of the day:

1) Heatherdale Ale from SaltSpring: (slight advantage because I already know I quite adore this beer!) It’s a light tasting, golden beer with hints of honey…made with Heather flowers instead of hops. Love.

2) Talking Dog Wit from Shuswap Brewing: (I originally went here because they had a short line but ended up going back again, then went back and bought their totally cute t-shirt too.) This beer was really refreshing and light, with a really lovely hit of orange and coriander. Yum.

The weather was totally amazing and sooooo hot. Who says Victoria doesn’t get Summer? I’m here to tell you ours has been pretty phenomenal this year….it’s just later around here!

After escaping the glorious sun and heat of the park and spending a few hours just chatting and relaxing with friends, a few of us made our way to Siam for a much needed delicious Thai food dinner.

Mee Krob to start, and Red Chicken Curry with rice for my meal. I took half home (nothing like strolling the streets with curry in your purse) and anticipated the leftovers for two days.

Come Sunday I could barely move after being on my feet for two days straight. All I wanted to do was absorb more sunscreen, sit out on the deck, and have someone serve me. So that’s pretty much what I did.

After running a few errands and letting the dogs burn off some energy, Michael and I hung out with his brother and sisters enjoying our Sunday and eating some easy barbeque. Ribs, chicken, pasta salad, potato salad, squishy garlic loaf, and fresh tomatoes mixed with sweet onion and bocconcini cheese.

And nothing beats the heat more than vanilla frozen yogurt with a Twix stuffed in it. Even when SOMEONE steals your Twix when you are busy smooching your boyfriend. Clearly the siblings have accepted me since the pranks are aimed in my direction now. I’m not sure how I feel about this. ;)

Overall a lovely weekend. Of course, probably not as lovely as next weekend…since next weekend Tiffaney and I shall be in GREECE!!!

W-T-F

2011-09-09T13:09:00.001-07:00

Not that WTF… :)

It’s been a busy time getting caught up after my extra long weekend. So rather than bore you with a lengthy recap I thought I’d just slap it all together into a few collages instead. Everyone loves collages!

Tuna Noodle Casserole, Big Brother, and a pretty fantastic sunset made for a relaxing Wednesday night after spending the day playing catch up.

Those amazing little tomatoes are what I hauled off my patio planter after the hot long weekend. Nom.

Missing from Thursday’s collage is what might have been the last iced coffee of the Summer season and the first Pumpkin Cream Cheese muffin of the pending Fall season. Both were enjoyed while I blonded up my hair for Greece(!).

More Big Brother required popcorn. I hate to say it, but of the final three I hope Rachel wins. I bet none of us thought we’d be saying that!

Today’s menu involves making sure I’m full up with filling and healthy eats. Missing are the three cups of coffee I’ve consumed knowing I will be needing the energy this afternoon.

I’ve packed my dinner and water bottle and I am ready for my volunteer shift for The Great Canadian Beer Festival.

Today I take your tokens. Tomorrow I drink the beer. Glug.

Happy weekend kids!!

PS: There was just an Earthquake here!! I didn’t feel it but according to Twitter everyone else around here did. Be safe.

Camp Food

2011-09-08T17:00:00.000-07:00

Obviously I didn’t want to spend my mini-vacay taking pictures of everything we ate but I managed to catch most of our dinners and breakfasts.

For our first night we decided to let the supermarket deli feed us.

No marshmallow roasting took place but I made sure they made it into our hot chocolate with Irish Cream.

We tried to keep breakfasts and snacks pretty healthy.

And dinners a little more campout style. :)

But we still managed to get our veggies in.

On Labour Day the Yacht Club held a fundraiser pancake breakfast. 2 eggs, 2 bacon, 2 pancakes, coffee and OJ for $5. Who can say no to that?

What do you eat when you go camping?

Pacific Playground

2011-09-08T12:10:00.001-07:00

I suppose you’ve been wondering where I disappeared to.

Michael and I took a four day weekend, borrowed his folks small RV, and took ourselves for a little weekend camping getaway.

Nothing like getting almost an entire beach to ourselves.

The dogs were in off-leash heaven.

We were in time-free, work-free, stress-free heaven.

The beauty of Vancouver Island and the Pacific Ocean never ceases to amaze me. Never.

Reader Request: Single Gal Shopping

2011-09-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

This post is a long time coming! And even though I’m not technically a single gal these days (hi Honey!) I still shop as a single gal because this bachelorette pad is mine all mine. :)

Any of you that read here regularly know that I like to be a somewhat frugal grocery shopper. I tend to only buy what’s on sale, shop around for good produce prices, and don’t like to overstock my fridge, freezer and cupboards. I’m also a big proponent of meal planning. Meal planning is not just for families! It’s really the lifeline to keeping grocery costs down and perishable food waste to a minimum. It is also a huge timer save and meal-stress reliever!

So here’s what works for me… I generally manage to pull this off for probably three of the four weeks per month. There is usually one week (this last week is a good example) where I just don’t feel like meal planning, or I know there’s enough to scrounge up around here that it’s not necessary. The kicker to that is that I ended up at the grocery store three times this week looking for something to complete a meal idea…which isn’t a big deal if you can get in and get out with only whatever you actually need! I may or may not have wandered out of the store with some completely unnecessary chocolate covered almonds.

Step One: Meal Planning

Take a look in your fridge/freezer/cupboards for main meal ingredients. For me this means checking to see what kind of proteins I have on hand to base a meal on. For this example week I literally had no meats or beans on hand! If you have anything, think of what you’d like to do with it. If you have nothing, it’s time to check your grocery flyers.

I like to write out a quick list of the days of the week and list my meals and snacks for those days. I’m generally planning out Monday to Friday…breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Friday dinner I usually leave off in the hopes of Michael feeding me. :)

Base your meals on what you like and what you have…then decide what you need to complete the ideas. This will form your grocery lists.

Breakfasts and lunches are pretty standard. Salads can be made from all kinds of reasonably priced veggies, and breakfasts are one of three or four favourites depending on the seasons.

Step Two: Grocery Lists

I refuse to drive around to multiple grocery stores just to save a buck or two, but we do have a really great produce market here that has lots of local items and generally much better prices on seasonal goods. Aside from that I stick to my favourite grocery store and if I don’t like the price of something I probably just won’t buy it.

Conveniently both of these stores have their weekly flyers online so I just take a quick look through those to see what the deals of the week are and that generally helps me decide on what I’m going to eat.

For this example week, boneless skinless chicken breasts and pork loins were on sale so that’s what I went with. I know that most packaged meats will feed me at least two servings so right there I have four dinners planned. Then all I have to do is have a look at what produce is on sale (or things I know are always cheap…like maybe zucchini) to help decide on side dishes or recipe preparations.

I also keep my eyes peeled for regular pantry items I might need to pick up…ie: rice, mayonnaise, eggs, oatmeal, etc. As well as items I consume every week like soy milk or yogurt or bananas….some stuff just never goes on sale and I have to suck it up and pay full price, but you’d be surprised how much you can save by just giving in to a different brand of yogurt for one or two weeks here and there.

If money is a real issue make sure you know what your MONTHLY grocery budget is. Each week probably won’t be exactly the same spend so keep in mind that you might be able to save a few dollars this week but you will probably need them next week when you run out of dish soap or cheese goes on sale. (I keep a lose estimate in my head while I’m writing up my grocery list).

Step Three: Grocery Shopping

First and foremost, make a freaking list. And use it!

Also, the rule about not shopping when you are hungry/sad/bored…it’s totally true. Pay attention to this!

Go in knowing that you will probably buy something that is not on your list. Sometimes I end up realizing I missed something in the flyers…like toilet paper is on sale, or I walk past something and it reminds me I’m running low. If it’s a good price and I need it, I get it. If it’s full price and it can wait, I wait.

If your budget has room, allow yourself extra items or a splurge. For this example week I ended up with a couple of things…mainly a special container of cheese. When I saw it in the deli case I had to buy it because it’s a seasonal item. It’s never going on sale and it’s only available once in a while…I had room in my budget and knew I would find multiple uses for it…so into my basket it went.

While waiting to pay, double check your list and your items as you unload them. If you find yourself with multiple extra items use this chance to really think about if you want/need them. Almost every time, I’ll end up putting something back and never miss it once I’m home.

And that’s really it! You just have to stick to the plan now that you have the stuff. It’s not saving you any money or groceries to get lazy after you’ve made it this far. Stopping for drive-thru or ordering take-out because you are tired/busy/lazy one night is just going to be a waste of the groceries you just bought. Of course I’m not saying to give up last minute plans with the girls, or a date night or something, but it’s just something to keep in mind.

Other notes:

I’m not a stockpiler. My cupboards will generally have a decent selection of baking supplies and I always try to keep some soup, beans, tuna, pasta, etc on hand but I don’t buy extras “just in case”. I buy what I need when I need it.

My fridge is what most people would call “sparse”. I have lots of the typical condiments, etc but again…I don’t stockpile. One or two salad dressings are fine with me, one variety of pickles is good, and the only reason I have two jars of salsa is because the sale was so good I couldn’t pass it up.

I aim for around $300 a month. This includes all of my groceries, anything I contribute to meals made at Michael’s, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, and kitty litter. Unless I totally run out of everything at once, this is pretty doable. (Dog and cat food comes from a different budget).

I’m human. This is “best case scenario”. I buy treats. I blow the budget. I get lazy and pay too much for avocado because I need it for a recipe. But just like anything else in life…if you have good intentions things seem to work out pretty close to the plan.

So….

Was this helpful?

Do you meal plan? make grocery lists?

What other reader requests should I do?

Devour Lunch

2011-09-02T17:32:00.001-07:00

Earlier this week my good friend (and massage therapist) Laura and I were emailing back and forth about my impending ART sessions when we decided we should quit talking “business” and start talking about a lunch date instead.

She knows that I’ve mentioned Devour Bistro during multiple foodie-must-try conversations so suggested we should get together there. Who I am to turn down such a lovely suggestion?

I have never heard a bad word about Devour. Why would I? Everything is prepared fresh daily, looks delicious, and seems to cater to pretty near any palate. Gourmet comfort food. Before walking out the door this morning I made sure to check out their website for today’s menu…I was super excited to see Borscht as their soup of the day.

I ordered a cup for Laura and I to share and was pleasantly surprised at the size of the cup! Honestly I expected it to be half the size and the chunk of soft baguette was a nice bonus as well. The soup was smooth, creamy and slightly sweet. We were both impressed.

The one thing I did know before stepping into Devour was that you don’t go there without ordering one of their decadent house made sodas as your beverage. Today’s offering? Strawberry & Cardamom. Yum, trust me.

There was at least four different things on today’s lunch menu I was leaning towards ordering…it was a tough decision! Laura solved part of my problem by ordering their Pulled Pork Sandwich with Green Apple Slaw and offering to let me try it.

It was VERY good. Even the gal behind the counter said that they know there is a lot of pulled pork competing at lunch spots in Victoria, but she was right that theirs is different…in the best possible way. Rich and delicious. My comment was that it was more of a gravy than the usual barbecue sauces you find most places. I actually might have thought it was beef if I didn’t know any better…it had that richness about it.

So because Laura made that her choice I decided to go for something completely different…the Ricotta Lavender Tart with Lemony Potato Salad. Oh.my.word.

Imagine a pillowy soft, creamy forkful of light ricotta heaven. It was this amazing, dessert-like meal! Sometimes ricotta can be a bit dry texturally but not this tart. And the fresh lemon, sprinkles of lavender, and drizzle of reduced balsamic were sooooo delicious.

And that potato salad? Seriously people…it may have been one of the best potato salads I’ve ever had. The lemony zest was perfect. We couldn’t put our finger on what else was in there (honey?) but yowza! it was good.

The cafe itself is quite small…maybe 4 or 5 tables plus a few window seats…so we went a wee bit early to ensure we could eat in. I suspect a lot of people working downtown must get take-out, which I totally would too if I lived/worked a bit closer.

As if all of that wasn’t enough for a Friday lunch Laura ordered us this amazing wedge of Apple Pie with house made Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.

Just look at that amazing creamy wedge! The pie was cinnamony and delicious with a lovely flakey crust, but I was totally distracted by that ice cream. I love me some vanilla bean and this ice cream was so dense I actually picked away at it with my fork.

I would seriously go back for a side of pulled pork, a scoop of lemony potatoes, and a wedge of ice cream any time.

ANY time.

Keep those lunch invites coming.

Treat of a Day

2011-09-01T22:36:00.001-07:00

Creamy and robust! Sounds like a good way to take your coffee don’t you think?! I didn’t want to crack into a whole pound of fresh coffee, knowing I’m leaving town in less than two weeks (!!!) so I picked this little packet of Italian goodness up to get me through.

Knowing I had a coffee meeting this morning I opted to consider eating yogurt directly from the container to be breakfast.

Obviously I was saving room for my REAL breakfast. What? There is absolutely nothing wrong with chocolate for breakfast. Especially when it’s said with a French accent…pain au chocolat s’il vous plait. I’m practicing for my European vacation.

Totally tortured Canadian French is perfectly acceptable in Greece, non?

Hey look. Vegetables! Vegetables totally erase chocolate breakfast pastries. And full fat cafe au lait. Totally.

ART update: I actually have bruises on my lower back/glute where she “massaged” me on Tuesday. Today she worked on my neck/shoulders/upper back and all I could think was “oh crap, I’m going to have bruises on my neck…not awesome”. She says I should be OK, but someone please back me up when Michael asks where those bruises came from, OK?!

She sent me home with two awesome exercises to help open my hips, back and shoulders. Out of all of the stretches the various physiotherapists, chiropractors, and massage therapists have given me over the past couple of years I can actually tell why these ones might help. The hard part? I’m supposed to do these every 15 (!!!) minutes.

Yikes.

After work I headed to mall in search of a few more items for my vacation. Note to self: don’t wait until September to look for cute Summer dresses. After trying on too many pairs of ill fitting shorts I picked up Opa! for dinner.

Greek salad and chicken souvlaki just seemed appropriate given the reason I was shopping. :)

And since any day that starts with chocolate should also end with chocolate…and since I clearly have no concern for my bank account today…I deemed a trip to Cold Stone Creamery totally necessary.

I mean really…a girl that works all day, gets “beaten” by her chiropractor, and tries on half price bikinis in a change room with bad lighting obviously deserves a treat.

And obviously deserves to forget all about that treat she already had today. Right? Right. I knew you would understand.

B.L.T. Quinoa Salad

2011-08-31T22:49:00.001-07:00

Even stale coffee tastes deeeelish in a cute mug. Yellow makes me smile.

I don’t know how it happened but my fruit bowl is entirely empty. And I’m unwilling to bust into the frozen blueberries just yet so my waffle found itself paired with a flattened banana today.

And since I was apparently having fun taking pictures of things I was holding this morning, here’s the boiled egg I ate before heading to the gym.

I heard a dirty rumour that today (or possibly Sept-6th…apparently it’s up in the air) is the last day of $1 drinks from McD’s so clearly I had to stop for an iced coffee to mark the occasion.

And paired it with a granola bar because I waited way too late to go the gym and my stomach was screaming for lunch…which I just COULD NOT wait the 5 minutes for.

Awwww yeah. Fresh veggies! And another hard boiled egg. It’s a good thing I live alone. ;)

My little patio herb planters are chock full of fresh green herby goodness now so I decided to pick a bunch last night and turned it into an easy peasy dip. Fresh basil for the win!

Fresh Herby Dip: mix together…

3/4 cup light sour cream
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs (I used parsley, basil and chives)
1 small garlic clove, minced
juice of half a lemon
salt & pepper, sprinkle of paprika

I was a bit too heavy handed on the garlic in my batch but overnight the flavours came together quite well. The lemon really works with the fresh herbs.

Check this dinner out. Genius I tell you. What do you do with a random pack of bacon, a recently unearthed bag of quinoa, and a bounty of cherry tomatoes from your very own patio planter?

Well B.L.T. Quinoa Salad of course! And just like I’d put on the sandwich, the dressing involves mayo and Dijon.

Ingredients (two servings):

1/2 cup quinoa, cooked in 3/4 water, room temperature
4 slices bacon, cooked crispy, crumbled
12-14 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup shredded lettuce
optional: fresh herbs (chives and parsley)

For dressing:

1.5 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp honey
1 tsp olive oil
salt & pepper

Directions:

Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a large bowl. Taste and adjust seasoning if desired.
Simply add the quinoa, bacon, tomatoes, and herbs to the dressing bowl. Toss, add the lettuce, toss again. Serve.

I enjoyed the first bowl so much that I actually went back and hoovered down the second serving I was planning to save for tomorrow’s lunch. Oooops.

This evening I met up with the other Jamie for our traditional coffee date. I heard a rumour that the new Starbucks finally opened at Uptown and they were giving away free food and drinks in exchange for donations to our local food bank.

Nothing wrong with a Decaf Americano Misto in exchange for a few bucks to The Mustard Seed!

Of course, we also took this opportunity to pop into Cupcakes since it is conveniently located right next door to the new Starbucks. I hadn’t been there yet and even though I was up to my eyeballs in quinoa salad I couldn’t resist the cupcakey goodness.

Red Velvet. Sorry local cupcakeries, this mainland chain still wins in the cream cheese frosting department. So deeeelicious.

I kind of want to go back for a six pack of day-olds to bring camping this weekend. What? It’s RV camping. There’s internet access. Cupcakes would be perfectly acceptable. Honest.

Active Release

2011-08-30T22:01:00.001-07:00

Lookie here! Dog walking coffee. Something about this cute ceramic mug is so much more appealing that a regular travel mug. Thanks Janna!

Waffle love. One waffle, double almond butter, double raspberries.

My produce all survived the weekend! Survival salad!

In the big silver bowl: red leaf lettuce, radishes, cucumber, celery, green onion, tomatoes, Honey Poppyseed Dressing, dried cranberries, pecans, and mixed seeds.

The salad was lacking protein which gave me the excuse to eat yet another Larabar this afternoon. Half before meeting my new chiropractor and half when I got home. What I really should have done was allowed myself a gigantor chocolate chip cookie because after the torture she put me through I deserved a real treat!

Since massage and physio didn’t really fix me I have decided to give ART a go. Also known as physical torture. In just ten minutes I now know what a pounded piece of meat feels like. My ice pack is my best friend.

Dinner was a total overcooked fail. Those green beans really have seen better days and the extra steaming they took didn’t help.

I picked up this salmon pinwheel from the grocery store. I opted for the spinach and artichoke version over the cream cheese and shrimp, but I didn’t enjoy this at all. Boooo. It doesn’t help that I dried it out by cooking it way too long.

Clearly my cooking mojo felt beaten up today.

For dessert I tried to make banana soft serve but it tasted off. Like a freezer burnt banana. Hmmm….I wonder why! Sadface.

So I tossed it and broke into my emergency flattened banana and smeared a piece with almond butter. Thank goodness Jessica brought me this Trader Joe’s loveliness on her last trip to Portland.

I don’t know what I would have done without it. A girl who has endured torture and a bad dinner cannot go to bed without her dessert!