Friday, June 28, 2013

Strawberries with Lemon Sugar


This may be the one of the easiest and best desserts you will ever make.

I know, that is a lofty claim. I pulled this together in about 3 minutes, and it took about the same time for it to disappear. I'd say that backs it up, no?

I finished work Saturday and hit the grocery store, thinking that I'd get home, get the groceries put away, and head over to Tyler's cousin's place for a BBQ. It tuns out the party had been moved to our place. Okay... Now what?

Luckily the boys had dinner already planned out and ready to go so I didn't have to do any cooking. Cleaning up was another story, but that's what happens when there is a ratio of 2 women to 6 men I suppose, despite this being 2013 and not 1952.

The last thing I wanted to do was come home and make a dessert (especially since it was a toss up between popping a drink or jumping in the pool for the first thing I wanted to do). So I zested a couple of lemons, added some sugar, washed the berries and headed out to the pool. With a drink.

One Year Ago: Battenburg Cake
Three Years Ago: Bran Flax Muffins


STRAWBERRIES WITH LEMON SUGAR
  • 2 pounds strawberries
  • 2 lemons
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
Wash and dry strawberries. Zest lemons into a bowl using a Microplane* or other fine zester. Add sugar, rub sugar and zest together to with your fingertips to combine. To serve, dip strawberries in sour cream (or yogurt) and then in lemon sugar.

*If you don't have a Microplane, use the side of a cheese grater with the small holes and then pulse the zest together with the sugar in a food processor.

Monday, June 24, 2013

And this week in food...

Ok guys, week two of sharing my meal plan. Somehow a couple of meals got shifted to this week from last week. What did we eat in place of those two meals? One night we went to a barbqeue at my father-in-law's, the other...? I honestly couldn't tell you. How is it even possible that I don't remember making a random meal after work?
  • Souvlaki with Greek Orzo Pasta Salad I'll post the pasta salad recipe later in the week
  • Turkey Burgers with Sweet Potato Fries
  • something vegetarian with chickpeas maybe. We've been eating a lot of meat lately which is kind of weird for us.
So, the burgers. I was going to make these burgers from Skinny Taste but they took another direction. They turned out to be about half meat and half veg since I kept just finding stuff in my fridge and chucking it in the bowl. Left over chopped up peppers? In they go. There was some cucumber in with the peppers, so that got mixed in. I have a giant tub of baby spinach and since it's usually up to just me to eat about a kilo of spinach since nobody else will touch it, I thought I'd sneak some of that in too. A hunk of feta cheese was found lurking in the fridge too. Ok... I have a theme now... Greek Turkey Burgers! Genius. Some dill, parsley, and garlic powder rounds these bad boys out.

Tyler barbequed the burgers since I am banned from the barbeque. This is a recent development that occurred when I set a spatchcocked chicken on fire. And I wasn't paying attention so it probably burned for a good 10 or 15 minutes. Whoops. But you know what? I may be on to something here. That chicken cooked through in 15 minutes and was wonderfully juicy and smoky. Once you dig through the char of course.

Where there are burgers, there are baked sweet potato wedges. In my house anyway. I've told you how I make sweet potato fries before, right? Hmmm... a search of Four Seasons Kitchens says no. "Recipe" below as well.

GREEK TURKEY BURGERS
Serves 4
  • 1 lb ground turkey
  • 1 sweet pepper, finely chopped (roasted red peppers would be good too- use a couple whole ones)
  • big handful baby spinach, chopped
  • 1 tsp dried dill
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • small handful fresh parsley, finely chopped
  • 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
  • 1/4 cup bread crumbs
  • salt and pepper (go easy on the salt since you've got feta in there, big up on the pepper)
  • buns, tomatoes, condiments (including Sriracha- turkey burgers always need Sriracha!) to serve
Preheat grill to high heat- 500 degrees F. Place turkey and remaining ingredients through to salt and pepper in a large bowl. Mix to combine (your hands are the best tool here). Divide mixture and shape into 4 patties. Grill over direct heat for 6 to 7 minutes per side or until cooked through.

BAKED SWEET POTATO WEDGES

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Peel sweet potatoes and cut into wedges. Pile on baking sheet lined with foil, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, toss to coat potatoes. Spread potatoes into one layer. Bake 10-15 minutes on middle rack. Flip wedges, bake another 8-10 minutes until potatoes are tender.

Friday, June 21, 2013

Bookmarked

Photo: Cooking Light
When it rains it pours, right? I didn't write any posts for over two months and now this is the third this week. Did I forget how much I love food? Yes, I think I suffered from some temporary insanity for those two uninspired months. But I'm back!

Speaking of food, this weekend is one of my favorite weekends of the year... it's Kitchener Multiculteral Festival weekend! Tons of food vendors representing countries from all over the world in one place. I can't wait to stuff my face with amazing food! El Savadorian pupsas are a must, samosas from a few vendors- just to compare and make sure we try the best ones, and hopefully they have the curry chickpeas that rocked my world last year again. So. Stoked.

101 Sandwiches via Cooking Light I love having a sandwich and a salad for dinner on the deck in the summer. The Grilled Zucchini Caprese Sandwiches are going to have to happen next week I think.

Sweet Potato and Leek Soup via My Invisible Crown This will have to wait for fall, but it looks delish.

Cavetelli with Asiago Oat Crumbs via Food52 Interesting

Waffled Chocolate Cakes with Cocoa Nibs via Waffleizer This is a whole blog about "waffleizing" things other than waffles. Awesome

Chicken Korma via Jamie Oliver Forums I have been craving Indian food since that Top Chef Canada episode with Vikram Vij (I just looked Googled this episode... that was a month ago. That is far too long to have a craving. This needs to happen next week too)

DIY Larabars via Donuts, Dresses, and Dirt These look great, healthy, and easy. Plus, I love the name of this blog! 

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

What Are We Eating

I shared in my last post how the daily grind of weeknight meals is sapping my cooking motivation. I'm going to try something new here. I always plan our weeknight meals anyway, so I will post what we my meal plan for the week. Hopefully this will inspire me to be more creative and share some ideas with everyone else as well. Please share in the comments your quick dinners as well... sharing is caring folks.

Here is the plan for this upcoming week.

  • Mini Tacos via Pinterest (I made these last night. They were cute and really good. I sneaked about a 1/3 cup of pumpkin puree in to up the veg factor)
  • Slow Cooker Thai Chicken with brown rice I'll use almond butter rather than peanut butter though as Parker is allergic of course. I've been meaning to use my slow cooker more, especially because I got a small appliance switch for my Rogers Smart Home Monitoring system specifically to be able to turn the slow cooker on/off from work (from my iPhone...that is so cool, right?!? George Orwell couldn't even conceptualize that technological breakthrough)
  • Perogies with some kind of side vegetable, probably peas and corn thawed in the microwave. No, I'm not making perogies from scratch. This is my lazy meal for that inevitable day that I don't want to cook anything.
  • Chicken Stew with Sweet Potato Biscuits The chicken stew is from my freezer. I have no idea what's in it or what the recipe is. All I know is it is labelled "Chicken Stew Feb 2013" so we'd better eat it.
Two Years Ago:  Panini Bar
Three Years Ago: Aloha Pork Kebabs
 

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Greek Potato Salad

Wow it's been a while since I have posted anything. I know, not at peep from me lately. In the 3+ years I've been writing this blog I think this is longest I've gone between posts, and that includes when I was pregnant and food turned my stomach. What gives?

I don't know, really. I've been back to work full time a year now and I think the daily grind of pumping out quick meals when I get home from work has sapped my creativity. I also find I'm eating more for health than pure enjoyment lately. 'Cause let's be honest, avocado chocolate pudding is good, but it's no butter-laden chocolate chip cookie people.

I think that's enough excuses now, non? Let's get to the food.

I have made this potato salad twice in the last few weeks. It is a nice fresh twist on the regular old potluck potato salad (or the one in the plastic container from the grocery store Tyler likes... UGH). My Greek Potato Salad is loaded with more veg that you will usually find in potato salad, plus lemon zest makes everything better. Make this for your next BBQ and you'll be asked for the recipe, guaranteed. I should have prettied it up for the photo with some chopped parsley sprinkled on top or something, but whatever. Trust me, it is delish.

Oh, I just thought of one more excuse... I'm turning 30 in three weeks and I'm kinda FREAKING OUT. I used to think my Grannie was ridiculous saying she was 29 for twenty years straight, but now I get it. I may pull a Grannie. 29 forevah bitches (sorry for the swear Dad... it just fits).

One Year Ago: Let's just do this- here are the April 2012 and May 2012 archives

GREEK POTATO SALAD
Serves 4
This is one of those recipes I am so fond of that isn't really a recipe. Why measure a specific amount of cucumber- who cares how much goes in exactly? Just go with it. The potatoes are tossed with the dressing while still hot so that they absorb the dressing and become more delicious.

  • 4 small to medium yellow fleshed potatoes
  • 2 green onions, chopped
  • 1/2 a cucumber, roughly chopped
  • 1 red pepper, roughly chopped
  • 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered
  • 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
Dressing:
  • 1/3 cup low fat mayo
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • juice of 1/2 lemon
  • splash red wine or white wine vinegar
  • splash olive oil
  • dash garlic powder
  • bigger dash dried oregano
  • handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
  • small handful fresh dill, chopped (or use dried dill to taste)
  • salt and pepper (I like it with lots of pepper)
Cook the potatoes in the microwave or in a pot of water until just cooked through. Let cool a few minutes. While potatoes are cooling whisk together dressing ingredients in a large bowl. Using a sharp knife in order to keep the skin in tact, chop potatoes into bite-sized pieces and place in bowl with dressing. Mix gently (a spatula works well here) to coat potatoes. Refrigerate until cooled.

When cooled gently mix in remaining salad ingredients. Refrigerate until serving. Leftovers will keep a day, but after that things get fairly soggy.