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!

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!

My First Whole Foods Trip and Stir Fried Rice

What a lovely day it has been today. It reached about 17 degrees C, but with the sun felt much warmer. I wore capris, and sandals, and was very warm wearing shorts and a T shirt on my run. Not only was the weather nice but I went to Whole Foods in Oakville for the first time. I have heard all about it through reading lots of American blogs and just couldn't wait to go myself. I figured today would be a perfect day! (disregarding the volume of shoppers out on this Holiday weekend Saturday)

The produce section was smaller than I expected but the rest of the store sure made up for it. The meat/seafood section was VERY impressive. There was lots of organic and "properly raised" meat, along with a big selection of grass fed beef, which is where my Dad picked it up for my 23rd Birthday dinner. The seafood is all labeled with where it is from and they had a lot of sustainably wild caught and properly farmed fish. There was also an impressive amount of prepared foods. I was very glad I ate lunch before I went because I would not have been able to resist the salad and hot food bar.

Any lingering hunger I had was supressed by the samples throughout the store. I tried a strawberry jalapeno jam on brie cheese. It was amazing and definitely worth the 8 dollars a jar for a special occasion. There was a ton of in-house made foods. Fresh pasta, sauces, salads, soups, sandwiches, pizza, meats, anything you could ever want! Was it pricey? Yes. But you know what, if I could afford it, didn't have the time to prepare something, and wanted to ensure I was eating something made from real food with natural ingredients, I would definitely head to Whole Foods (if there was one in my city, anyway).

Although I took the trip mostly just to take a look, see what all the hype was about, and check out some prices of some of my favourite products, I knew I would buy myself something. First I picked up some Green Mountain Gringo Hot Salsa which was on sale for $2, regular $6! To go along with that I chose one of my favourite brands of tortilla chips Guiltless Gourmet. I chose the spinach artichoke parmesan flavour. This brand is awesome because the seasonings are made with natural ingredients, a rare find in "healthy" chips. Finally, I picked up a berry scone. As soon as I saw it I knew that is what I wanted to have for breakfast on Easter Sunday when Lent is finally over. The cherry on top of the whole trip was that at the checkout, I got the chips for free because they didn't scan, and got 10 cents off for bringing my own bag, all while we listened to the live Jazz band playing by the checkouts.

I could get used to that place.

I'll send you off with a recipe I put together one night when I got home late and was starving. It was quick, easy, and very filling.

Stir-Fried Rice

1/2 tbsp olive oil
dried chili pepper (whatever you can handle)
~2 cups of frozen veggies (I used a blend of broccoli, pepper, carrot, beans, and water chestnuts)
1 garlic clove
1 tsp minced ginger
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 egg
1 egg white
dash of milk
soy sauce to taste

1. Heat oil with chili pepper on medium heat.
2. Add half defrosted veggies and garlic, and saute until no longer frozen.
3. Add ginger and rice and stir to combine. Heat for 3 minutes or so.
4. Meanwhile, beat egg, egg white and milk together. In a pan on medium-low heat, cook egg until about 1/2 done. Add to rice mixture and stir to combine, stirring until egg is cooked and veggies/rice are hot.
5. Serve topped with a bit of soy sauce.

This was my first time making a fried rice with egg and it turned out pretty good. I have made this twice since, and will probably make it many more times.

Have a fantastic Easter weekend!

Mushroom, Tomato, and Chickpea Barley Risotto

Some food for thought: The USA wastes 40% of all food produced in a year. I am guessing the picture isn't much better in Canada. About half of this can be attributed to household waste. In today's world we have an obesity epidemic and massive food waste on one side of the planet and an undernourished population with food scarcity on the other side. Although reducing our food waste won't immediately solve the world's food problems, it will at least save us some money.

Being the food safety freak that I am, I no doubt waste a lot of food. I won't leave leftovers in the fridge for more than a few days and if I forget to freeze it, there it goes into the green bin. I like to be on the safe side. This goes for produce as well. Sometimes I don't use up all the fresh vegetables I have bought before they wilt away. In the spirit of Lent and self-improvement I think I will try and consciously waste less food. This recipe is an example of an attempt to waste-not. I had celery from last week that was wilted, not fit for direct consumption, but would work beautifully cooked up. The mushrooms were getting to the end of their life-time as well. So instead of making the clam pasta that I have been dying to make all week, I made this barley "risotto" inspired by an Oh She Glows recipe, and my withering vegetables.

Mushroom, Tomato, and Chickpea Barley Risotto

1 tbsp olive oil
1 small stalk of celery, chopped finely
13 white mushrooms, chopped
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregnao
1 cup pot barley
2 3/4 cup tomato soup (I used Imagine's Creamy Garden Tomato Soup)
3/4 cup water*
1 1/2 cup cooked chickpeas

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add celery an saute for 3 minutes.
2. Add mushrooms, basil and oregano and cook until mushrooms begin to soften (about 3-5 min).
3. Add barley and stir for 3 minutes until hot.
4. Add soup, water and chickpeas and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Allow to simmer for about 30-40 minutes, until barley is cooked.

* Depending on the thickness of the soup you use, you may need to add more water.

This is such a quick way to get a "risotto" type dish. It was very flavourful due to the fantastic soup that I used. If your soup or broth is less flavourful, pump up the seasoning. Cumin or tumeric would would wonderfully instead of basil and oregano. This was a great dish to have for dinner with the current weather: cold and rainy. I look forward to coming home to these leftovers tomorrow. I'll be sure to freeze or eat any leftovers before they get a little sketchy...

Anyone have any good tips to avoid food waste?

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.

Vegetarian Cabbage Rolls

My visit to the farmer's market last weekend didn't turn up too much of a bounty for a couple reasons. A) it was the first day back after the Holidays and B) the market was closing in less than a week for two weeks to move to the new location. I managed to get a few items though and as I was roaming around I tried to think of something I could make that would incorporate cabbage (which there was plenty of) and wasn't a soup (becuase that is all I feel like I have been making lately). So naturally I went with cabbage rolls! Now since I don't have much of an appetite for ground meats these are a vegetarian variety. I have only make cabbage rolls once before and they weren't anything to write about. I actually quite liked these ones and would only make one minor change in the future, which I will mention after the recipe

Vegetarian Cabbage Rolls

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large carrot chopped finely
1/2 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
~15 white mushrooms
1 cup cooked rice
1 cup cooked lentils
1.5 cups sauce or seasoned stewed tomatoes
1 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp red chili flakes
1 tsp driedoregano
1 tsp dried basil

1 medium cabbage
tomato sauce or seasoned stewed tomatoes

1. Heat olive oil in a pan. Add onion and saute for 3-5 minutes until soft. Add carrots and saute another 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and garlic and sautee until mushrooms are cooked. Remove from pan into a large bowl.

2. Add rice, lentils, sauce, cheese and spices to mushroom mixture and stir well to combine.

3. To cook and separate the cabbage leaves I find the following method the best: Take a knife and cut the stump off as much as you can without sacrificing too much leaf. Then take a knife and further cut around the stump so a leaf would free itself if it wasn't so rigidly bound around the cabbage. Boil a pot of water, reduce to a simmer, and immerse the cabbage. As the outer leaves turn a brighter green and soft, they will fall off with ease. Remove the loosened leaf from the water once cooked well and allow to cool. Note: The cabbage will be very hot so handle with care. I tend to stick a fork in the stem for easier handling.

4. Take the cooked cabbage leaf and put the filling in the stem end.

5. Wrap up and place in a deep baking dish

6. Cover with a generous amount of sauce and bake at 350 degrees F for 35 to 40 minutes.

I loved these. Took some time with cooking the rice and the lentils but so worth it. The Parmesan cheese really makes it so I suggest not leaving it out (but it could definitely be substituted). For a vegan option you could use bread crumbs or soft tofu I suspect. The one thing I would change are the carrots. Next time I would probably shred them as the chunks kind of ruined the soft inside of the filling.

I don't want to spoil any surprises but my next recipe will be a soup. It is very different from what I usually make and has an interesting story behind it. Lets just say it was in the making for almost 3 hours. I will also leave you with a picture of the most complex cake I have ever made. My housemate Jenna and I made the Reese's Cup Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake from Annie's Eats for our good friend Dani's going away party. It was quite the treat!

I am off to continue reading Eat, Pray, Love (I have jumped on the bandwagon a little late).

Vegetable and Chickpea Soup

Better late than never is what I say. Actually, that saying is totally not me as I don't like to be late for anything. But in this case, posting this recipe later than I anticipated is much better than never posting it at all. This was my first soup of the fall/winter season and it was quite a success. I still have some in the freezer which will be much needed in the month to come I am sure.

It all starts with a pot.

I love this pot. Not only because it was a fantastic deal at the time but it was the first pot/pan I ever bought for myself. It consistently provides me with fantastic soups, stews and sauces. Obviously due to the pot itself.

Then you need some ingredients. This is what I used (I ended up not using the stewed tomatoes and also added kale and spinach).

You have to use your muscles a bit and chop until you cannot chop anymore. I hate chopping carrots SO much. I especially hate chopping baby carrots, but I needed to use them up.

Let the soup making begin!


Vegetable and Chickpea Soup:

1 tbsp olive oil
1/3 onion, chopped
carrots, chopped
2 small zucchini, chopped
2 cartons of vegetable broth
1 can of chickpeas
potatoes, cut up into bite sized pieces
1 stalk of kale, chopped
chopped spinach (I used frozen nuggets - about 8-10)
3 bay leaves
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp rosemary
pepper to taste

1. Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and saute for a few minutes.
2. Add the carrots and zucchini and saute until soft. The zucchini could also be added later so they maintain some structure but I like it when they are mushy in the soup.
3. Add vegetable broth and chickpeas. Once the broth begins to boil reduce to medium-low so the soup is simmering and add the potatoes and the spices. Cover.
4. Simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes and then add the kale and spinach. Cover.
5. Simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes until the potatoes are soft.

This soup made some delicious lunches all week!

It was especially good with some aged white cheddar on top. It was great to kick off soup-season with a win and I look forward to some more successful creations.

I've been busy but not too busy to cook!

Looking at my photo albums in iPhoto today made me realize how much I have cooked lately. I have been pretty busy with school and when I come home I am usually starving. Anything that slows down the time it takes for me to eat (aka. taking pictures/writing down quantities) has been cut from the routine. This week is equally busy so I will make this post relatively quick. Showing some pictures of my latest creations and either a link to a recipe, or a quick recap of what I did.

A while back my Nonna made me a pasta dish with no sauce, and was dressed with some olive oil and canned clams. I LOVED it! I made it once after that and then totally forgot about the potential of canned clams. They went on sale at the grocery store a couple weeks back and I remembered how much I loved them. I sauted up some garlic, chili pepper, onions, mushrooms, and broccoli, and then added the drained canned clams. Once all the veggies were tender and the calms were hot, I added some cooked rice noodles and tossed until mixed well. Any noodle would work well here but I liked the tenderness of the rice noodle.

One night a couple weeks ago I knew I wanted to use up some lentils so I did the usual search on Google Reader. I came across this recipe for a Vegetable Pie With Cornbread Topping from Seasonal Ontario Foods blog. I made some substitutions with vegetables I had on hand and I was a little disappointed. I definitely didn't like the pepper and I could have done without the eggplant (my substitution for zucchini). I liked the combination of the cornbread with the lentils (mostly because I LOVE) however and see a lot of potential in this one! I think next time I would use my personal favourite cornbread recipe.

I have been big into making baked fries lately. I make them about once a week, with sweet potato or regular potatoes. I love changing up the flavours using different spices to toss the taters in olive oil with, but one of my favourites is this flavour combination by Dani Spies, Spiced Sweet Potato Wedges With a Garlic Yogurt Dip.

On the weekend of Thanksgiving I found stewing lamb at the grocery store. Now I love lamb! It is by far my favourite meat. The best peice of lamb that every graced my lips came straight from a pot of sauce my Tatone was making. So I knew for sure I was cooking this lamb in some tomato sauce. I cut off as much of the lamb from the bone as I could. I then browned the lamb, as well as the bones with meat still on it, in a sauce pan, and then added onion and chopped portabello mushrooms. Once the veggies were cooked I poured on the strained tomatoes, added some basil, oregano, garlic powder, and 2 bay leaves. I let this simmer for about 45 minutes covered, and then allowed to reduce for another 15-20 minutes. I served it over cooked spaghetti squash, a great alternative to spaghetti! The sauce was delicious becuase you could taste the flavour of the lamb in each bite.

I am off to Montreal next week :) but I will be sure to write a real post before then. I bought myself an artichoke on the weekend and I am going to find out how to use it.

Pizza on the BBQ

For the past few days I have had a craving for pizza. Finally tonight, that craving was satisfied. I made a last minute decision to go home earlier than I had planned to spend more time with my family. When my Dad asked what I wanted to have for dinner, obviously I could not have said pizza fast enough. On the BBQ? Of course! It was such a beautiful day today which was perfect. While driving home up the escarpment in Hamilton this morning it sunk in that autumn was here, which even with a cool wind makes me feel warm inside. I have a soft spot for leaf senescence.

Now onto the pizza. I have yet to tackle making my own pizza dough. One day I will attempt it but for today Fortinos fresh whole-wheat pizza dough did the trick. Store bought pizza sauce would do as well.

1. Fire up the BBQ and let it get really hot!

2. Roll out the dough into preferred thickness and size.

3. Place onto hot grill.

Once the bottom is cooked, the outer edges are almost cooked and the middle is still soft, remove the crust from the grill, uncooked side down (rotate halfway through cooking time).

4. Place your toppings onto the grilled side. We added sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, veggies (green pepper, onion, mushrooms, hot peppers), then Romano cheese.

5. Put pizzas back on the grill and close the lid to allow the cheese melt while the bottom is cooking.

Once the cheese is melted and the bottom has the desired colour, it is done!

While the sauce was a little bland, the pizza was delicious and satisfied my desire for some cheesy pizza.

Since it is Thanksgiving weekend there is a whole lot of food fun going on. Tomorrow I am heading to my Aunts for Thanksgiving dinner and will definitely be a meal to write about. I am baking a special treat which I will be able to share with you as well (through pictures and words only unfortunately).

Eggplant Parmesan

Get ready for lots of pictures. As I loaded up my pictures to iPhoto I realized how much has happened in the last week. This happens to me every week when I go to write a new post so I shouldn't seem so surprised every time. The main recipe for this post was inspired by 99 cent eggplant at the Hamilton Farmer's Market and a bunch of tomatoes courtesy of my Tatone :D
You will also notice the lack of measurements. This is due to the fact that I was hungry and impatient, what else is new.

Eggplant Parmesan

1 very large ripe eggplant
salt
oil
breadcrumbs
quick rolled oats
basil
oregano
parsley
garlic powder
salt
pepper
1-2 eggs

Slice the eggplant into thick pieces (3/4 inch?). Layer slices in a colander sprinkling with salt in between layers. Place a heavy item on top and allow to sit for 30 to 60 minutes to draw out any excess water. Wipe slices dry with paper towel. Lightly grease a baking sheet with oil and preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Mix together about 1:1 of breadcrumbs to oats. (I only added oats becuase I ran out of bread crumbs but it turned out quite nice). Sprinkle basil, oregano, parsley, garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste.

You can hardly see the spices in the mix there and I would probably add more next time. I would say 2 tsp each (basil, oregano, parsley) if you use 1/2 breadcrumbs and 1/2 cup oats. Whisk the egg until mixed. Dip each side of eggplant in the egg and dredge through the breadcrumb mixture to coat well. I didn't bother dipping the sides of the slices (I was trying to conserve breading mixture). Place on the greased baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 7-10 minutes on eat side. Watching carefully that they don't burn.

While this was all happening I was also making some sauce. Very similar to the recipe I posted a while back (found here). With these soft delicious eggplant slices you could layer with some sauce and parmesan and bake some more, OR you could make a sandwich.

The sandwich consisted of whole-wheat toast, eggplant slices, fresh tomato sauce, and parmesan cheese. Adding the cheese to the hot eggplant and sauce allows it to melt without toasting the sandwich further (another time saver). I loved this sandwich and loved how the eggplant turned out. The leftover eggplant was good on its own with some sauce and cheese. If you are wondering, on the side there I had some chicken and roasted red peppers cooked in red wine and balsamic vinegar, probably one of my favourite food combinations.

Now as promised, here is a series of pictures from the past week.

Jenna's Birthday celebration


Carrot Spice Birthday Cake (made by me..isn't it pretty?! haha)


Sweet Potato Quesadilla's from the Bean Bar


BFT....Bacon Fig and Tomato Sandwich

Walnut Lentil Burger

Last weekend Jenna and I decided to make dinner together. and to make something new. Trying out a new veggie burger is always fun so that is what we did. This time it was Lentil Walnut Burgers by Angela from Oh She Glows.

Yet another successful veggie burger. Because of the walnuts, it is very moist and has a great texture. Crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside. We made smaller, "slider" sized burgers to have on small pieces of ciabatta bread. A great choice of bread I must say.

This gave us the opportunity to experiment with different toppings.

left: tomato and guac*; right: tomato and pickled banana peppers

* Worst guacamole ever. The last two avocados I have bought have been watery and not oily. MAJORLY lacking in the avocado flavour/texture I love so much. This made the guacamole oh so disappointing. I imagine that real guac would have tasted fantastic on the lentil burger.

I loved having the sliders but next time I would make large full size burgers I think.

Again, I did not change this recipe at all so I wont repeat it here. You can find the full recipe here. I used a real egg not a flax egg (for a vegan option).

With not living at home anymore I can't just walk outside onto the porch and into the garden to get fresh veggies. However, I have been lucky to receive some deliveries. Just yesterday, I got a ton of pears, tomatoes and figs from my Nonna and Tatone's garden. Looks like I will be making some more tomato sauce!

I am beginning to grow quite fond of figs. I never used to like them but this year I have found them quite delicious. I am lucky to have access to such fresh figs that aren't imported from California. I have been eating them raw but have also enjoyed them on bread with cheese as well as in yogurt. Here is a snapshot of my use for figs.

sliced ciabatta bread with asiago cheese and balsamic vinegar*

If I had the time I would have made a balsamic reduction. I will be making some to have with my current batch of figs that is for sure.

Pumpkin Scones

Fall is quickly approaching and pumpkin flavours are in the air. Pumpkin spiced lattes are at starbucks, and...that's pretty much it right now, but SOON pumpkins will be everywhere. I haven't had much experience with pumpkin. I've eaten pumpkin pie maybe twice, never had a pumpkin spiced latte, and never had a pumpkin scone. I love scones and am impartial to pumpkin (due to lack of experience) so what could go wrong. After reading an Oh She Glows post on her Savoury Pumpkin Scones in a Pumpkin Spiced Glaze, Jenna the housemate and I put it at the top of the baking list. The next day they were in the making.

I'm not even going to write the recipe here since it is all in the link above. It isn't a very sweet scone as you can tell from the title, "Savoury." We wanted it on the sweet side so we added the 2 tbsp of sugar (raw sugar) as Angela recommends. The original recipe is vegan, however we used an actual egg so ours was a vegetarian variety. All I can say is these did not last long in this house. Today we were trying to decide how many hours exactly they were in existence for. Not much more than 24 hours that's for sure.

The same night these scones were made, our other housemate Megan went all culinary on us and made a fantastic meal for herself and her boyfriend. I would like to showcase the strawberry bruschetta as it is beautiful and also delicious. One day I will get the recipe from her.

That is what is great about having housemates like the girls I am living with. We feed off of each other in the kitchen and are constantly getting ideas from each other. How lucky am I!

Like I mentioned in my first public post I am always open to suggestions and tips about the blog. What would YOU like the see? As brilliantly recommended by my wonderful cousin Diana I will now label posts as vegetarian (more often then not), vegan, or vegan option (easily made vegan or non-vegan). This makes it easy to search for the posts that meet your dietary requirements!