Enchilada Lasagna

I am really excited to be sharing this recipe with you today. I have seen the idea of an enchilada lasagna around for a while, and after making some homemade tortillas, I thought, why not try it out! The tortillas that I made were not the roundest and most even looking tortillas so I thought they would fare well in this recipe.

Tortillas are actually really easy to make and taste infinitely better than most of the grocery store varieties. Not to mention the short ingredient list. Flour. Oil. Milk. Baking Powder. Salt. That's it. No glycerides, no fumaric acid or a number of other presumably preservatives. I used this recipe from the Homesick Texan. I used half whole wheat flour and they seemed to turn out well. When you make these, don't forget to have one when it is still warm and fresh. You will not regret it.

This recipe from Perry's Plate was the inspiration for using the tortillas for an enchilada lasagna, instead of making just plain old enchiladas. The recipe is totally adaptable to your taste and preferences, but this is how I did it:

Enchilada Lasagna adapted from Perry's Plate and Simply Recipes
serves 4-6

Sauce:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion
3 garlic cloves
1 cup of salsa
1 can of crushed tomatoes
3 tbsp tomato paste
1/2-1 cup of water

Tortillas (I suggest you make these; I doubled the recipe)

1 tbsp olive oil
mushrooms
red peppers
corn
black beans
spinach
shredded cheddar cheese

1. Heat olive oil on medium heat. Saute onion and garlic until cooked. Add salsa, tomatoes, tomato paste and water. Add water to make the sauce according to your desired consistency. You don't want it too thick because it will thicken up even more in the oven, but too thin will result in soggy tortillas.
2. Reduce heat to low and keep warm while preparing the lasagna.
3. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
4. I decided to do sautéed vegetables. In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add all vegetables except for the spinach and beans. Once the vegetables are cooked, add the black beans and stir to combine.
5. In a large greased baking dish, add a little bit of the sauce to the bottom and spread around. Place a layer of tortilla. Add 1/2 of vegetables, top with sauce and spinach. Place a layer of tortilla, add the rest of the vegetables, add sauce and spinach. Place the final layer of tortilla, add a little bit of sauce, and sprinkle some shredded cheddar on top.
6. Bake at 450 degrees F covered with foil for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes before cutting.

This is an amazing dish. It makes great leftovers, and is very easy to assemble. I cannot wait to make it again!

Tomato, Walnut and Basil Sauce on Raw Zucchini Pasta

The garden is booming! My parent's garden that is. My little planters on my patio have yielded 0 fruit, and it will stay that way unfortunately. There was a lonely little pepper growing a few days ago, but it looks like the neighbourhood animals beat me to it. Oh well, it was worth a try. At least I have access to my parent's and grandparent's garden this time of year. Every weekend I have been coming home with lettuce, kale, swiss chard, and radishes. Yesterday, I came home with the first of the tomatoes, zucchini, cucumber, green pepper and chili pepper.

I wanted to make a dish that was light, raw, and would really highlight the freshness of the veggies. I have made raw zucchini pasta in the past, but wasn't a huge fan. Since I don't have a mandoline, the zucchini was irregular shaped and not as thin as it should have been. I also didn't have the right kind of sauce for it. With the though of gazpacho in mind I remembered this recipe, which is where I originally saw 'raw pasta'.  I made a few changes and it turned out wonderful. Extremely flavourful and perfect for these hot summer days we have been having.

Tomato, Walnut and Basil Sauce on Raw Zucchini Pasta adapted from Mis Pensamientos

1/2 cup walnuts
1 handful of basil
1/2 tsp parsley
1/4 large onion
juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 cups chopped tomatoes
2 zucchini

1. Add walnuts to food processor and pulse until finely chopped.
2. Add basil, parsley, onion, lemon, olive oil and garlic. Process until a pesto forms, scraping down the sides as neccesary.
3. Add tomatoes and pulse until combined (I only pulsed 3 times). Drain any excess liquid.
4. Use a mandoline to thinly peel the zucchini, or use a peeler to make the 'zucchini pasta'. Top with the pesto sauce.

After taking a look at this photo I realized the sauce doesn't look too appetizing, but I can assure you it tastes wonderful. I almost added some chili peppers but I am glad I didn't because it already has quite the bite from the basil and garlic. I also would have topped this with some goat cheese if I had some on hand. that bowl is 1 small zucchini and about 1/3 of the sauce. I think the leftover sauce would be wonderful in a cold pasta or quinoa salad.

**Update: Zucchini pasta is not for everyone. I really don't find raw zucchini all that appetizing, I much prefer it cooked. Maybe I would like it better if I had a spiralizer? As I was eating this for lunch I really wished I had real pasta, or cooked zucchini at least. Maybe some cheese would have made it better. Anyway, definitely give zucchini pasta a try at least once, but if it isn't your thing, I don't blame you, but don't forget about the tomato, walnut and basil sauce...it goes nicely with lots of other things.

I hope everyone had a great long weekend. Mine was low key and fairly relaxing. I spent some time with my family and made more preparations for moving into my parent's house, and for my trip to Italy. It is becoming more of a reality that I will be moving out of my current house and leaving my awesome housemates :(

I will leave you with a picture I took today of Tew's Falls in Hamilton.

Kale and Pasta Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

How is everyone handling the heat? I am handling it okay, but only because of the decision to finally turn the air conditioner on in our house. I am unsure if it has turned off since the heat wave began. That should be fun when the bill comes around! With all the heat, it is hard to get motivated to cook. Yesterday I made the mistake of making tea (to ultimately chill it), kale chips, and veggie burgers. The kitchen was a HOT MESS! Literally though, I spilt tea everywhere at one point. Luckily, I had an amazing lunch which was nice and cold. A kale and pasta salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

The salad came together rather quietly. It was the result of a series of fortunate events.

1. First it was just a container of leftover pasta. Maybe I will eat it with some pesto? Maybe I will just eat it cold straight from the fridge if I get THAT hungry?

2. But, when I was making a salad for dinner Wednesday night I saw the kale I had from my parent's garden. "Let's just throw that in there!" I said. So I did.

3. As I was chopping up some cucumber (from my Grandfather's garden) for the dinner salad, I had some extra. "Let's just toss that in the leftover pasta container too."

4. Kale is best raw when it has been in some dressing at least a few hours. Well, I was already dressing a salad, "why don't I just pour some of it on the pasta too?"

5. In the morning, I threw in some orange tomatoes, some goat cheese, and called it a day. A great day that is...because of this salad of course.

Kale and Pasta Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

farfelle pasta, cooked (penne, Conchiglie or rotini would also work well)
kale
tomato
cucumber
zesty balsamic vinaigrette
crumbled coat cheese

1. Toss together (everything except goat cheese and tomato), the night before. Refrigerate overnight.
2. Add tomato, goat cheese, and serve.

When I opened up the container for lunch I was so excited, and also very hungry. It looked so beautiful and vibrant that I had to take the 10 second to take a picture with my phone. I think it captures the colour rather well! The salad was really good and very filling. Be sure to use whole wheat pasta to get the same effect ; )

By the way, you should really check out this link. Deciding what pastas would work well led me to that wikipedia page. So many pasta types! I think I better brush up on my Italian pasta vocabulary!

BBQ Baked Beans

In the last 5 or so years that I have been a bean eater, I have never once eaten a can of 'baked beans.' Unless those beans served at a rib fest pulled pork stand were indeed from a can. But I doubt it. Either way, I have only had baked beans once, and the sauce was reminiscent of BBQ sauce. To me, baked beans should taste smokey, as if they had been meat in a previous life which had been charred on the grill slathered with sweet smokey goodness.

On that carnivorous note, I have recently decided to eliminate meat from my diet for the time being. Now, if you follow the blog, you could probably tell that I don't eat meat often anyway. However, usually once a week, I have dinner with my parents which normally involves meat. So this Sunday I wanted to have a protein item that could be easily incorporated into my family's dinner without too much trouble. Ribs were on the menu, along with baked potatoes and lots of veggies. Beans came to my mind right away. I would have them in some kind of sauce, over a baked potato, topped with guacamole. mmmm... But it wasn't until my dad coated the ribs in BBQ sauce, when the recipe for these baked beans really came together. One or two tablespoons is all it took for that smokey flavour to come though.

BBQ Baked Beans

1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion
2 garlic cloves
1 can black beans, rinsed well
1 cup water
1/2 small can tomato paste
1-2 tbsp smokey BBQ sauce
1/4 tsp lemon zest

1. Heat olive oil in saucepan on medium heat. Add onions and sauté until soft. Add garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes.
2. Add beans, water, tomato paste, and BBQ sauce. Stir and bring to a simmer.
3. Add lemon zest and stir in. Simmer until desired consistency is reached (0.5 to 1 hour). Once desired thickness is reached, cover and keep on low heat until ready to serve (up to an hour).
4. Serve over baked potato or with good crusty bread.

From my experience, these beans are good over regular and sweet potato. I also imagine it would be good served on their own with some good crusty bread. It has been a while since I have come up with an original recipe in which I would not really change anything next time around, so you should definitely try these. I also see this turning into a great lentil sloppy joe recipe.

Did I mention these kind of taste like summer? While the weather is telling us otherwise, this is definitely a recipe to get you in the mood for summer.

Roasted Garlic and Greenhouse Vegetables

Tonight I roasted some garlic in preparation for my dinner tomorrow night. My housemate roasted garlic a few weeks ago and I tried a clove. It is delicious. If you have never done this or heard of doing this before, check out this video by Dani Spies, where she originally got the idea. One tip I was given was not to eat the whole garlic bulb in one sitting, as you will emanate garlic from places you didn't know garlic could emanate from.

On that note, I added a couple cloves to my salad for dinner this evening. Note: 2 only. Now, I normally veer from salad in the winter months (or when it is spring and snow is still in the forecast) becuase A) I am not in the mood for it, and B) most of my favourite salad ingredients are not as fresh and for the most part, not grown close to home. However, today while at the farmer's market, I found some Ontario greenhouse cucumber, tomato and bell pepper. I think I am a fan of this method of growing food. While very energy intensive, I like to think that it is better for the environment than importing these foods from the USA, Mexico, or Chile. Check out this link for more information on how the produce is grown.

With these vegetables in hand I had a fresh salad in mind. To add some protein I decided to throw in some lentils, and I would have added goat's milk cheese too if my last little bit hadn't gone bad :(

Greenhouse Vegetable Salad

1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 cup chopped cucumber
1/2 green bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup cooked lentils

Dressing:
2 roasted garlic cloves, mashed
1/2 tbsp olive oil
red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

For this salad I encountered a couple problems with putting it all together.
1) I had larger chunks of veggies and I think chopping them finer would have been easier to eat with the lentils.
2) I usually make salad dressing myself, directly into the salad, mostly eyeballing it. However, I think I would have gotten the most out of the garlic had I shaken it up with the dressing outside of the salad, being sure to break up the garlic, and then dress the salad.
So keep these points in mind if you decide to make yourself this salad.

All-in-all it was a refreshing change from my recent hot meals. The tomatoes, bell pepper and cucumber, tasted no different than what you find at your grocery store currently (read: tasted okay). I got a bit of a taste for summer, and I cannot wait to get my hands on some backyard tomatoes.

Special Lamb Roast Dinner

On Friday night I made quite the dinner. I began the process at around 2:00 pm. Dinner was served around 7:00 pm. It wasn't extremely labour intensive, but a lot of waiting and planning with regards to oven time. Here is what was on the menu:

Rosemary and Garlic Focaccia
Roasted Lamb in a bed of Vegetables
Spinach and Goat Cheese Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette
Asparagus
Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwiches

Today I will talk about the highlight of the show, if you would call a meal a show. That would be the roasted lamb in a bed of vegetables. Upon acquiring the leg of lamb from Fortinos (1.3 kg of leg) I browsed the internet for cooking times/cooking methods. After looking at a dozen sites I settled on a protocols. It turned out really well, besides being a bit underdone for my taste.

Roasted Leg of Lamb in a Bed of Vegetables

2-3 lb leg of lamb, bone-in
1.5 lb fingerling potatoes, cut into halves or quarters
2 large shallots or small onions, cut into wedges
~20 small white mushrooms
1 can whole tomatoes, drained (liquid reserved)
~1/2 cup red wine
olive oil
rosemary
black pepper
7 garlic cloves

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Place potatoes, onions, mushrooms and drained tomatoes in a large roasting pan.
3. Drizzle some olive oil, add rosemary, ground black pepper and toss to coat, breaking up whole tomatoes.
4. Place lamb on top of vegetables with the fat side up. With a sharp knife make cuts in the meat faced up. Pour the juice from the can of tomatoes on top, followed by the red wine. Sprinkle with black pepper and rosemary. Place 3 garlic cloves on top of lamb and 4 in the vegetables.

5. Heat lamb in oven for 30 minutes. Remove garlic cloves on top of lamb and stir vegetables.
6. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and roast until internal temperature is 170 degrees F (well done, about 35 minutes per pound). Stir vegetables every 30 minutes.
7. When internal temperature of 170 degrees F is reached, remove from oven and place lamb on a cutting board. Allow to rest for 20 minutes and cover veggies with foil to keep warm.

Although the thermometer read 170 degrees F, the lamb was more medium then well-done. I am unsure if the thermometer was a bit off or I didn't place it deep enough. It was cooked better at the top then at the bottom. This problem would have been solved with a wire rack over the veggies so heat could circulate the bottom, and then juices would still have dripped from the lamb into the veggies. Some basting would be required however.

The lamb was delicious even with its slight under cooked state, for my tastes. I hate (or love...not sure) to say it but the vegetables were really the star. They were so flavourful with the tomato, wine and lamb working really well together. This meal was rather pricey but definitely worth it. Can't say I will repeat this recipe any time soon for that reason but I would definitely try out the roasted vegetables sans lamb (or maybe with some less-expensive stewing lamb).

I hope to post the rest of the recipes by the end of the week, or maybe even tomorrow if we are granted with a snow day. There is a blizzard coming in Ontario. The members of this household plan to occupy our snow day (because it is happening) with snow angels, baking, movies, and tobogganing. Yes, we are 8 years old. Enjoy the snow!

Mushroom and Bean Bolognese

I realized this weekend after my weekly grocery store trip that I need to start to use up my pantry items. I really should take a picture to show you how full my cupboard is. The problem is, I head to the grocery store every week to get the essentials: milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, eggs, apples, bananas (locally grown exception). I then end up buying other things I don't need right now (but will need one day) that are on sale because I cannot pass up a sale. Over the Holidays I also took a trip to Goodness Me to use a gift card my wonderful Grandmother got me for my Birthday. This resulted in stocking up my pantry even more with some foods I have been wanting to try for a while (wheat berries, sucanat) and other items that are a bit too expensive to buy on a regular basis. Now I have a pantry crisis that I must begin to deal with. OH and how could I forget my freezer. I have numerous portions of cabbage rolls, soups, veggies, ripe bananas, meat, you name it, that needs to also be dealt with.

The need to use up my pantry items as well as some mushrooms (which I don't like to keep for very long after purchasing) lead to making this mushroom and bean bolognese adapted from 330 Vegetarian Recipes for Health.

Mushroom and Bean Bolognese adapted from 330 Vegetarian Recipes for Health

1 tbsp
1/2 large red onion, chopped
18 white mushrooms, sliced
2 garlic cloves
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
~ 1/3 cup chopped roasted red peppers (from my freezer)
1.5 tbsp tomato paste
3 tsp oregano
salt and pepper to taste
3 cups dry vegetable shell pasta
Parmesan cheese for serving

1. Heat olive oil in large pot on medium heat. Add onions and saute for 3-5 minutes.
2. Add mushrooms and garlic and saute until soft, about 5 minutes.
3. Add diced tomatoes, kidney beans, roasted red peppers, tomato paste and oregano.
4. Bring to a simmer then reduce to low, allowing to simmer for 15-20 minutes while you cook the pasta.
5. Season sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Top pasta with sauce and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

A bolognese sauce is traditionally meat heavy and has very little tomato sauce too it, often just with chunks of tomatoes. Therefore, draining the diced tomatoes would give a more authentic vegetarian bolognese, but I wanted something a little more saucy. This sauce was very thick and almost stew like. I could definitely eat it on its own.

Oh, and I know in my last post I said I would talk about a soup in my next post, but that soup was abysmal. After forcing myself to eat it two days in a row for lunch I decided that no one should make that soup for themselves; unless of course you like flavourless, watery, cruciferous soup. If you do, give me a shout, I have a recipe for you ;).

That's all for now! I should tend to the beets roasting in my oven before I forget about them.

Lentil and Black Bean Vegetable Soup

As promised here is soup #2 of the winter season. I made it quite a while ago now (nov 19) and as usual I didn't write down what I put in it! So let's see how my memory will serve me today. Usually when it comes to soup I go light on the seasonings and stick to the basil, bay leaf, rosemary variety. That's just how I like it. This time however I went for the cumin, garlic, coriander, chili flavours. While still mild in flavour it was just different enough to make this soup a little bit more exciting.

What also made this soup exciting was that I literally emptied my crisper and made a dent on my pantry while making it. I was just grabbing veggies, cans, and jars left right and center. To my pleasant surprise it turned out rather delicious and not so surprisingly, very hearty.

Lentil and Black Bean Vegetable Soup

1 carton vegetable broth
1 can of stewed tomatoes
water (about a tomato can full)
1 can black beans
red lentils (1/2 cup?)
1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed
1 crown broccoli, chopped
1 can sliced mushrooms
1 can corn
4 celery stalks, chopped
1 bunch of kale, chopped
cumin
garlic powder
coriander
dried chili pepper
cayenne pepper

1. Heat broth, stewed tomatoes, and broth on medium-high until a simmer is reached.
2. Add all veggies (except for kale), black beans and lentils.
3. Once a simmer is reached, reduce heat to medium-low and add spices. I don't remember the measurements but it was about 2:2:1 for cumin to garlic powder to coriander. I just sprinkled them on there. Then the chili pepper and cayenne pepper is to your own taste. Depends on how hot you like it!
4. Simmer for 30 minutes or so until the lentils and squash are soft.
5. Add the kale and simmer for another 10-15 minutes.

This soup is very thick and hearty. Almost like a chili. I added some black pepper and crumbled goat cheese on top. I suspect cheddar would be fantastic as well.

Yup, that is me eating in front of my computer. Not as much of a regular affair as it used to be (a positive thing I think).

I have quite the lineup of food photos for you. I don't think this one post a week deal is nearly enough to handle them. Hopefully I will be able to post some more as the term comes to an end and the Holidays begin!

Chicken Cacciatore

Chicken cacciatore is one of my favourite dishes. I have never been 100% sure what it is exactly but as long as it is a stew with chicken and tomatoes I put it into the cacciatore category. This past weekend I was at my Nonna and Tatone's (Italian Grandparent's) house for dinner and I had mentioned that I had made some cacciatore. "Cacciatore? What made it a cacciatore?" They were interested to see how "Americanized" my version was. I told them how I did it and they nodded in semi-approval. At this point I was really interested as to what authentic cacciatore was. So I asked.

Cacciatore in Italian means "hunter" and chicken cacciatore means a chicken dish prepared hunter style. This dates back to when hunters would go out for days on end to hunt for meat. Their meals would consist of meat cooked with whatever vegetables they could gather and of course, wine. I would say my recipe is quite authentic in this case...minus the hunting part. This makes me happy. I just wish my Grandparent's could have given it a taste, as I thought it was delicious.

This recipe is very easy, so some of the quantities are vague becuase I just threw stuff in. There is a lot of wiggle room here. As long as you use quality ingredients you will get quality results. This is especially true when it comes to the tomatoes.

Chicken Cacciatore

3 ripe plum tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
2 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
cm of chili pepper
2 cloves of garlic
2 small leeks
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
1 small chinese eggplant
roasted red peppers (I used about 1/3 of a ziploc bag full - about 3 Shepard peppers) *
red wine

To remove skin and seeds from tomato:
Bring a pot of water to a boil, leaving enough room for tomatoes. Make very shallow slices all around the tomato to make a cross shape. Add tomatoes to boiling water. Boil until skin starts to peel back, a minute or two. The riper the tomatoes are, the quicker this will happen. Remove from water and allow to cool. Peel off the skin and cut off the tough stem areas.

Cut into quarters. Remove seeds and put into a fine strainer over a bowl. Cut remaining tomato flesh into bite sized pieces. Once all the tomatoes have been seeded, move the fleshy seeds around in the strainer to remove all the juices. Add these juices to the diced tomatoes.

Heat olive oil in saucepan over medium-high heat. Add pieces of chicken breast and cook for 5-8 minutes until almost cooked through.

Add chili pepper and garlic and saute for 3 minutes. Add leeks, carrots, celery, and eggplant.

Cook until vegetables are beginning to brown. Add tomatoes and roasted red pepper.

Once simmering, add a splash of red wine and stir.
Allow sauce to simmer for about 20 minutes, until desired consistency is reached.

almost there...

This can be served on it's own or with any kind of bread or pasta. I had it on couscous with Asiago cheese on top. Delizioso! (yes I had to use an online translator for that)

Fresh House, Fresh Tomato Sauce

I am now blogging from my new kitchen in my new house! It is a wonderful kitchen with more gadgets and small appliances than any other student house, I am sure. We are now fully settled in, and I am enjoying my last few days of summer before school starts. Along with everything I own, I made sure to bring some veggies from my parent's garden when I moved in. I brought tomatoes, leeks, eggplant, chili peppers, and managed to dry some basil in time for the move.

I had 5 very ripe plum tomatoes on hand and knew I could not forgive myself if I didn't make some tomato sauce at the end of my personal tomato season (no longer right out my back door). I usually rush sauces when making them for myself and do not take the time to do it properly. I figured I would do it differently this time since I currently feel like I have all the time in the world. The sauce turned out pretty good and has been used in two different recipes which I will be posting in due time.

Fresh Tomato Sauce

5 Plum tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove of garlic, chopped finely
1 small leek, chopped
1 cm of chili pepper, chopped finely
oregano (sprinkle to taste)
basil (sprinkle to taste)
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste

To remove skin and seeds from tomato:
Bring a pot of water to a boil, leaving enough room for tomatoes. Make very shallow slices all around the tomato to make a cross shape.

Add tomatoes to boiling water. Boil until skin starts to peel back, a minute or two. The riper the tomatoes are, the quicker this will happen. Remove from water and allow to cool. Peel off the skin and cut off the tough stem areas. Cut into quarters. Remove seeds and put into a fine strainer over a bowl. Cut remaining tomato flesh into bite sized pieces. Once all the tomatoes have been seeded, move the fleshy seeds around in the strainer to remove all the juices. Add these juices to the diced tomatoes.

To make the sauce:
In a medium pot, add olive oil, chili pepper, and garlic. Heat on medium-high for a few minutes until fragrant. Add leeks and saute for 3 to 5 minutes, until soft.

Add tomatoes, tomato juice, and tomato paste. Heat until simmering for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and use a hand blender to blend the tomato pieces. This can be done as much or as little as you wish. I do not normally do this but wanted a traditional sauce this time. Put blended sauce back on heat and add oregano, basil, bay leaf, and salt and pepper to taste.

Simmer until sauce has reduced to desired consistency, about 15 minutes. Remove bay leaf.

This sauce was very fresh and delicious. It really would not have been the same without the fresh overripe tomatoes. I will miss those guys. I used this sauce to make a baked pasta as well as a baked bean dish. Good comfort food let me tell you.

I'll leave you with a few pictures of the new place and some meals I've created in it.

blogging station #1

blogging station #2

Leeks, Zucchini and Tomato with Black Pearl Medley Rice

Roasted Eggplant and Red Pepper


Dilled Carrots and Beans with Cottage Cheese on Lavash

Bean and Couscous Salad, and the Friends Who Inspired It

Summer is almost over! It's almost time to go back to school! I am so nervous/excited! This back to school season feels totally different than the rest. I am going to go through a huge change! A new house, new housemates, new school, new subject of study, new degree. Everything is new! All of my friends seem to be starting something new in September whether it be grad school, a new job, or traveling. Last weekend, a few of my friends from Waterloo got together and had a nice dinner which was perfect timing as the summer is coming to an end and before we get super busy in September.

I'm going to give you a quick rundown on these friends becuase I feel it is important in choosing the dish that I brought. Maybe not that important, but it will give this story a little something extra. There is William, a fellow lover of food, especially if cookies and chocolate are involved. He also loves to cook and try new recipes, particularly if it is French. He will turn the most simple dish sound like a French masterpiece. Then there is Max, the one who really convinced me to finally start this blog. He is always up for trying something new in the kitchen. Then we have Andrew, the token carnivore. Everyone has a carnivorous friend right? Clearly I'm exaggerating but not as much as you'd hope. Last but not least we have Miles. Oh Miles, how one can exist on cereal and pizza we will never understand. I like to tease him about his lack of vegetables because he literally defies all odds. This guy never gets sick while only getting his veggies from the top of a pizza! He has an immune system to die for! But I digress; why am I telling you all of this? Because making a dish to bring to a dinner with these friends has to A) impress the food critic that is William, B) have veggies becuase clearly I won't get to eat any otherwise, and C) make those veggies taste great so the carnivores will get their vitamin C for the year (I joke).

Bean and Couscous Salad

1-2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 cm piece of chili pepper
1/4 tsp cumin
1 medium carrot, chopped
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can red kidney beans
3 cups cooked couscous
1 small purple pepper (any colour really), chopped
1/2 large green pepper, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/2 cup chopped cucumber

Dressing: from allrecipes.com

1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 tbsp olive oil
2.5 tsp chili powder
2.5 tsp cumin
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt

Add olive oil, garlic, and chili pepper to a pan and heat on medium-high. Heat for a few minutes until fragrant.

Add carrot, onion, and cumin and saute until onions are translucent and carrots are softer (but not fully cooked).

Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool. In a large bowl, combine beans, couscous, onion mixture, peppers, tomato, cucumber, and celery and mix to combine.

Combine ingredients for the dressing in a closed container and shake to mix well. If you have the time, allow dressing to refrigerate for a couple hours to allow the flavours to come together. I did not quite use all of this dressing for this salad. How much you want to use is really up to you. It is also good to add the dressing and refrigerate a few hours before serving.

As far as I could tell, the salad was a hit. Straight from Miles' mouth: "It tastes like tacos!"

Mission: Accomplished.

I move into my new house tomorrow and am in the middle of packing. I am not sure when the internet will be up and running but I hope to be posting from my new kitchen soon!

Oven Roasted Tomatoes, and Refreshing Iced Green Tea

I'm going to begin today with a bit of disclaimer. Today is not a recipe day. These foods are just too simple to be labeled as such. While ever so simple, the oven roasted tomatoes and iced green tea have been simple pleasures for me the past week so I thought I would share them.

With so many tomatoes around here, believe it or not was getting a little tired of eating them raw. I love raw tomatoes but I also love a good plump and juicy cooked tomato. Whether whole or in sauce or stew, I love them. Roasting tomatoes is very easy and results in wonderful flavour. They are so versatile and can be used for almost anything!

You may recall the roasted tomatoes from the Eggs with Tomato post. Those were roasted with just a touch of olive oil. The day before however I made roasted tomato with onion. I meant to add garlic as well but I forgot...typical!


Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Slice plum tomatoes in half and put into a bowl. Add chunks of onion and halved garlic cloves. Sprinkle with basil and oregano. Toss in olive oil until coated. Place on pan cut face up and bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees F. Cut into smaller pieces as desired once cooled.

Since there are so little seeds these would be great to add to a stew or to a stir fry. There is enough flavour in these to simply top a piece of crusty bread, or toss with some pasta.

Along with tomatoes, summer brings hot afternoons and cravings for cooling drinks. I wanted something that was more flavourful than my go-to liquid (water) but wasn't loaded with sugar. I settled on making some home-made iced green tea.


Iced Green Tea

Heat water in a medium pot (I have no idea how much I used). Once almost boiled, remove from heat, add three tea bags, and cover with a lid. Depending on how strong you want the tea, you can steep it longer or add less water/more tea bags. Once the desired strength is reached, remove the lid and allow to cool. I was told that the beneficial compounds in green tea are volatile and therefore you should keep it covered while still warm. Therefore, I recommend keeping the pot covered, and placing it in a larger pot with ice to speed the cooling. While waiting for the tea to cool, squeeze one half of a lemon into a pitcher. Once the tea is no longer hot, pour into pitcher and put in refrigerator until cold. When ready to serve, add some frozen fruit to keep it cool, and sweeten it just a tad.

This definitely hit the spot!

Today was a beautiful day in Hamilton, Ontario. The air was crisp and the sun was still warm. I can definitely feel fall around the corner. Last weekend a friend of mine hosted a BBQ to bring some friends together as the summer comes to a close. My next post will feature my contribution to the meal.

Eggs with Tomato

I tried to think of a better title for this recipe, I really did. But no such luck. I got this recipe from A Cozy Kitchen. I saw it while browsing Google reader and thought that I definitely wanted to make it one day. The very next day I really wanted to use up some tomatoes and thought it would be perfect. It then took me about 20 minutes to find this recipe as I had forgot which blog it was from. Story of my life.

I was really excited to make this as I love eggs and I am loving the tomatoes from the garden. I altered the recipe a bit but not much. It is tomatoes and eggs, so there isn't much wiggle room here. I don't want to hype this up too much but I was blown away by this meal. It is so simple yet just so delicious. Since it is mostly tomato, you gotta get the best that you can find (not hard to do this time of year; head to the farmer's market) or else you will most likely be disappointed.

Eggs with Tomato adapted from A Cozy Kitchen

3 plum tomatoes, halved
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 clove of garlic, chopped finely
dried red pepper flakes to taste, or freshly chopped red chili pepper
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1 egg, yolk separated

crack egg and allow egg whites to drain into a bowl. Once egg yolk is separated, put it in a seperate bowl that will allow easy manipulation of yolk without breaking.

1/2 cup egg white
2 tbsp ricotta cheese
0.5 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 tbsp chopped chives
2 pieces of bread, the crustier the better

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Slice the tomatoes in half and brush with 1/2 tbsp olive oil. Roast in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Allow to cool enough to cut into chunks.

To a cold pan, add 1/2 tbsp olive oil, chili pepper, dried oregano, and garlic.

Heat to medium-high until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Increase heat to high and add chopped tomatoes, crushing with spoon even more.

Stir frequently until most of the liquid has reduced. Reduce heat to medium and add egg whites and ricotta cheese, stirring continuously until combined and cooked throughout. Add chives and basil.

Turn heat to low and create an indentation. Slowly pour the egg yolk in this divot.

Cover pan with a lid to heat the egg yolk. If you prefer non-runny yolk, poke it a bit and allow it to spread. Heat covered until desired consistency is reached. Serve with toasted bread slices.

I enjoyed this so much! I have made it twice since. Once I added some spinach as well which was pretty good. This is a great way to eat tomatoes as the fats help to absorb fat-soluble vitamins and antioxidants. This is definitely a lunch staple for me as long as fresh tomatoes are available!

Sweet Summer Slaw

This year we are growing red cabbage in our garden, as requested by myself. I love to use red cabbage in salads, soups, stir-fry, you name it. It is always so inexpensive and yields so much cabbage! The only problem is, I can't finish it on my own before it starts to go bad. So now we have four mature cabbage plants in the backyard...time to be creative I guess.

Thankfully they did not all grow at the same rate, and there is a large window for harvesting. Last week I picked the first (and biggest) head of red cabbage. It was a beautiful bright purple once I peeled away the dark and dingy outer leaves. I decided to make a big cabbage salad. I feel like vegetables grown in your own yard deserve to be eaten raw at first to really enjoy their natural flavour, so that is what I did. This salad is colourful, sweet, and truly is the taste of summer.

Sweet Summer Slaw

4.5 cups of chopped red cabbage

purple overload!

0.5 cups of sliced onion

3 medium carrots, chopped julienne
3 corn on the cobs, yielding about 1 cup of kernels
handful of basil leaves, chopped finely
olive oil
cider vinegar
salt and pepper
garlic powder

Chop everything "julienne" style as best you can. Thinly sliced pieces allows you to get multiple veggies in one bite which means more uniform flavour. I tossed all the veggies together with the basil and added olive oil and cider vinegar in about a 1:2 ratio. Then added garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste. The salad is excellent on it's own just like this (and oh so colourful). The basil and corn are wonderful together and sweeten up the crunchy cabbage. I am in love with the corn and basil combination.

Now we have tonnes of tomatoes right now, and the only reason why there are not tomatoes in this salad is because my mom doesn't like them. However, once in my own bowl, I made some personal modifications to this salad that made it even better.

I added about 1 medium tomato, 1/2 can tuna, and a couple tablespoons of cottage cheese. These additions made the salad a complete meal and was incredibly satisfying.

Like I said earlier, we have a TON of tomatoes. I'm averaging about 4 to 6 tomatoes a day I think, so I'm sure getting my dose of antioxidant carotenoids. "Where are all the tomato recipes?" you ask? They are on their way. I have been eating a lot of raw tomatoes, but my lunch today, utilizing oven roasted tomatoes, was so out of this world, that it has pushed it's way to the front of my posting list and you should be reading all about it very soon.

Plantain Chips

I have very limited experience with plantains. It is a cousin of the banana, my favourite fruit, so I figured I should experiment with it out of respect. I can only remember two occasions where I actually have had plantain: 1. In Dominican Republic, I believe it was mashed, and 2. at Margarita's in Waterloo, as a chip to dip into guacamole. Now since avocados are my new best friend, I thought this would be a great thing to do with a plantain.

So I purchased a plantain. It was green. I waited and I waited for it to turn ripe. Finally a few days later it was ripe. Once it was ripe I did some research and found that there are lots of uses for green plantains as well. Aparantly it is best to make baked plantain chips with a green plantain, and to make fried or mashed plantain with ripe plantains. So since I had a ripe plantain on my hand, I had to resort to frying the plantain chips. Of course, my version of frying is merely using about a tbsp of oil in the pan, not really "frying".

Plantain Chips

1 plantain
1 tbsp olive oil

serves 2

So I peeled and sliced up the plantain into 1/2 cm slices. I heated the olive oil on medium-high. I then placed the slices on the pan without crowding. After about 5 minutes, flip the slices and heat for another 3 to 5 minutes. You have to watch these carefully becuase they burn quickly.

These went great with the guacamole that I made, based off of the Avocado Salsa Verde from my Mexican Fiesta post. It is my mom's new favourite.

I have since had a new found love for plantains and bought another one the other day. I thought about making plantain tortillas and found a recipe online. The tortillas didn't really turn out (they kind of crumbled), but still tasted good with some spicy quinoa, tomatoes and cottage cheese.

I really like the idea of making tortillas out of plantains and will hopefully get it to work in the future.

Up next: 2 delicious ways to use up all those Ontario peaches!

Mexican Fiesta!

Here I go again with the Mexican food. It wasn't my idea this time I swear! Will said he was bringing avocados to make guacamole and tortillas to make homemade chips. You cannot avoid wanting some beans and rice to with.

We decided to make a Bean and Corn Chili Salad as well as Mexican Rice. I used these recipes as a guide to get the desired Mexican flavours. Will had seen a recipe for the Avocado Salsa Verde and the homemade tortilla chips and started off with that. I am working from memory here and these dishes were made almost a week ago. I hope I get the avocado salsa verde recipe right, although, you can't really mess up guac.


Avocado Salsa Verde

3 avocados
1 small bunch of green onions
2-3 jalapeno peppers
1-2 limes, juice only

Add everything to the food processor and blend until creamy smooth. To make sure leftovers to do not brown, sprinkle some lemon juice on top.


Whole-Wheat Tortilla Chips

tortillas
olive oil
salt and pepper

Cut the tortillas into triangles like a pizza. Brush with olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste. Bake in a 400 degree F oven until crispy and lightly browned.

These were absolutely delicious! While not the healthiest dipper, they are quite a treat and are much better than store bought corn chips. I could see adding different seasonings such as cumin and cayenne to these to get great flavoured chips!

After we devoured the appetizer, it was time to make our main dishes.

Mexican Rice, adapted from allrecipes.com

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2/3 cup diced onion
1 1/2 cups uncooked brown rice
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 jar of stewed tomatoes
1 can of tomato paste
salt to taste
1 clove garlic, minced
3 cups water

Heat the oil in a large saucepan on medium-high heat. Saute the onions until they are soft. Add the rice and stir to coat in oil. Add the rest of the ingredients in order. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, cover, and cook for 45 minutes, or until the rice is tender, stirring occasionally.

While this was pretty good, I think it could use some improvements. The end result was rather saucy, and I think next time I would leave out the tomato paste and maybe use less stewed tomatoes. I would also add more cumin and chili powder. Other than that, I love using different liquids to cook rice (such as tomato) and will definitely make this again (with modifications of course).

While the rice was cooking we made the bean salad which is SO easy to put together.

Bean and Corn Chili Salad, adapted from allrecipes.com

3 tomatoes, diced
1 can black beans
1 can white kidney beans
1 can low-sodium corn
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
cilantro (optional)

1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 tsp chili powder
2 1/2 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Rinse canned beans thoroughly, and mix with corn and onion. Into a seperate bowl, wisk together lime juice, oil, chili powder, cumin and salt and pepper. Add to bean mixture and toss to coat. Garnish with cilantro or mix in if you like.

Since cilantro and I are not friends, I photographed Will's plate for the full experience (cilantro and all). I really enjoyed this salad and wouldn't change a thing. It was even better the next day! You can really use any beans you like but I would always keep some black beans in there.

The highlight of this meal was definitely the salsa verde. My Mom loved it, and it is now the recipe of choice in this house. I have been able to do a lot of cooking and baking this weekend. Tomorrow I'll post about a meal I made with my friend Jenna that contains some some of the cutest produce at the Hamilton Farmer's market, as well as three recipes we have been dying to try!

Crostini and Quinoa-Stuffed Peppers

For my parent's anniversary they received a wonderful gift basket from a friend with lots of Italian food products. It came with a jar of mushroom bruschetta and ever since, my Mom and I have been thinking about eating it with some nice crusty bread. While we were at the store yesterday we picked up a whole-wheat french baguette. We had all that we needed.

Before we began I wanted to make sure I would like this mushroom bruschetta. It looked delicious but I had no idea what it would taste like. So I tasted a bit and wasn't a big fan. I love mushrooms but didn't enjoy this preserve at all. So this led to creating two different kinds of crostini since my Mom liked the mushroom brushcetta.

I sliced the baguette thinly. Normally when making crostini you would toast the slices first, and then top them, but I was a little impatient. I topped half of the fresh slices with the mushroom bruschetta, and half with thinly sliced tomato and jarred hot banana peppers. Then I sprinkled them all with a bit of Parmesan cheese. I set the oven to broil and they took about 5 minutes to toast. So simple and delicious!

I had my crostini with barbecued eggplant and zucchini that my Dad had made the day before. I am not quite sure how he does it, but this is the BEST way to eat eggplant and zucchini. I will make a post on that recipe in the future.

For dinner I got together with Jenna to make a recipe from Healthy Girl Cooking. We have been eying multiple recipes from this site, and finally got around to making something. We decided to make Quinoa-Stuffed Peppers.

Quinoa-Stuffed Peppers, modified from healthygirlcooking.com

3 large bell peppers that stand up well
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 cup beans (any kind you like)
1 cup corn
1 tomato, chopped finely
10 basil leaves, chopped finely
parmesan cheese

Mix the quinoa, beans, corn, tomato and basil in a bowl. Cut off the tops of the peppers and cut out any seeds and white flesh.

Stuff pepper with as much filling as it can handle.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top and bake for another 3-5 minutes.

Boy were these guys filling. They are very nutritious as well. They were lacking in the flavour department though. I would not serve these to guests until making some adjustments with the flavour. We brainstormed some ideas to increase the delicious factor for these peppers and came up with a few ideas:

• after filling the peppers half-way, add a layer of cottage or goat's cheese, before filling the rest with the stuffing, OR mix in the cheese with the stuffing.
  
• add a bit of salt, simple as that.
• add cumin or coriander; there are endless possibilities in the spice department here.
• cooking the quinoa in flavoured broth or tomato juice, or mixing in some tomato paste after cooking.

Any other ideas for making these stuffed peppers spectacular?