Spring fling

I baked this week....twice!  Unusual I know...the first episode was for a work potluck (yes, another one - two last week, and another one tomorrow!). I tried Ina Garten's (The Barefoot Contessa) Lemon Yogurt Cake. Unfortunately, I neglected to take any photos of my final product, but never you mind, I will be making this puppy again! I'm a big fan of lemon flavoured anything, and this cake was loaded with sweet  (but not too sweet) lemony goodness.  The only change I made was cutting the amount of oil to 1/4 cup (thanks for the tip Dara!). Trust me, it was SO moist. It was also a tremendous pot luck success, so much so that I've been pre-signed-up to make this cake again at the next potluck. Try it ok!?

My baking extravaganza continued with a somewhat yummy Rhubarb Walnut Loaf.

It probably won't be back for a repeat performance, but I think I made good use of my local, seasonal rhubarb from the Wanigan delivery. Rory and my dietitian coworkers gobbled it up!  I used a Canadian Living Recipe as inspiration.  Maybe I should stop using baking recipes as 'inspiration' and just flipping follow them eh?  I feel like a substitution addict when it comes to baking...but the first step is knowing I have a problem right?

The one part of the recipe I did follow was for the topping - butter, sugar, and cinammon - after spending almost an hour in the oven, it was like caramel topped rhubarb loaf.  I can see myself using this topping for many a cake in the future.

Maple Mustard Chicken, Sauteed Fiddle Heads and Quinoa

A simple healthy meal. Looks a little boring I admit...should have styled the plate a little better! The quinoa was prepared as per the package instructions (and I used my leftovers for hot ceral in the morning with milk, honey and strawberries!).  The chicken was topped with a quick little sauce, and baked at 350F for 20 minutes, brushing a couple of times while baking with extra sauce.  Fiddleheads were sauteed in butter for about 10 minutes, and sprinkled with s&p. 

Overall, an o.k. meal - the chicken was moist and flavourful., the fiddleheads were a little undercooked, and the quinoa was simple.

I LOVE fiddleheads, but the ones I got with my delivery were not very fresh.  It didn't help that I undercooked them either. If you like asparagus, you would probably like fiddleheads, and you can cook them the same way.  My preference is steaming for 7-9 minutes.

Maple Mustard Sauce

- 1.5 Tbsp of maple syrup

- 1 Tbsp lime juice (fresh lime juice is better - this was leftover from a recent margarita party :) )

- 1.5 tsp dijon mustard (any mustard will do)

- a pinch of cayenne pepper

Burger Night!

We had some PC Angus burgers left over from a bbq a few weeks back.  I don't love hamburgers all that much, in fact I prefer a hotdog to a hamburger any day, but I do occasionally have a craving.  We served ours with local Wanigan tomatoes, and a side 'salad' of blanched brocolli and asaparagus (both Wanigan), tossed in a red wine vinaigrette. 

sooo pretty.  The 'salad' was o.k.  Broccoli hangs on to a lot of water when it's blanched (boiled for 90 seconds), which diluted the flavourful vinaigrette a little.

Simple Egg Salad - using the perfect hard boiled egg.

Ok folks, here is a recipe for the perfect hard boiled egg. Follow these instructions exactly: 

- Cover your eggs in a sauce pan with cold water

- Bring water to a boil over high heat

- As soon as the water starts boiling, remove the pan from the heat, cover with a tight fitting lid, and set your timer for exactly 10 minutes

- Run cold water over the eggs for a minute to halt the cooking process

- Peel and enjoy!

- Use them for egg salad, deviled eggs (my FAVE!) or cobb salad

TIP: don't use super duper fresh eggs if you want to be able to peel them.  An egg with a little maturity under it's belt will shrink slightly in it's shell, allowing for easier peeling.

You want eggs that look like this....

For the love of god stop overcooking hardboiled eggs! Have you ever a notice a grey film that surrounds your hard boiled egg's yolk? It means you've overcooked the poor little thing!

My egg salad sandwich is simple...2 eggs, 1 stalk celery (Wanigan), 1 Tbsp Miracle Whip, a few grinds of fresh black pepper and 2 slices whole grain bread.

Here's a shot of my latest delivery.  I have to say, I have not been impressed with the quality of the produce.  Again, I received lettuce that was already browing and was completely wilted within 24 hours in the crisper.  The asparagus was dry (as in not picked recently), and many of the fiddleheads were flacid, and I had to throw some of them out.  The fruit has been consistently tasty, but for the second time, three of the bananas were so bruised I had to toss them.  Wanigan's got one more chance to make me a believer :)

This weekend, I'm headed to Vegas baby!!!!  I'm looking forward to some superb meals and will try to remember and document them!  Have a wonderful first long weekend of the 'summer'!!!!

Pasta, pilates and potluck

After uploading my photos for this week's post, I realize pasta has been on heavy rotation! I think it's my recent lack of time to cook complicated meals, and the fact that any veggie delivered with my Wanigan bag can be chucked into a bowl of noodles and called a meal :)

This first photo is one I haven't had a chance to post from a little dinner party we had a couple of weeks back.  Prerequisites for this meal were: 1.  gluten free (for celiac disease) and  2. vegetarian (for Kosher purposes).

To start: mixed greens salad with roasted grape tomatoes (local), toasted walnuts, pear-blue cheese (little bits of dried pear in the cheese...brilliant), tossed with apple cider vinaigrette. 

Main: Butternut Squash Lasagna.  I made two lasagnas, which wasn't in the original plan.   Even though I was sure to buy gluten free lasagna noodles, as I was pouring the delicious and creamy Bechemel sauce over the first layer of noodles, I realized I made it with flour! Oy vey...fyi flour and all wheat products have gluten in them - serious rookie mistake!  It was a good thing I started prepping for dinner so early and had plenty of time to churn out a second one.  It turned out to be an excellent mistake, because the lasagna was a big hit, and we needed two of them! 

I've posted about this lasagna before and I can't emphasize enough how delicious it is, and the brown rice noodles were equally as tasty as their wheat counterparts.  For the GF version, I used corn starch to thicken the Bechemel sauce which worked perfectly well (you only need about half as much though).  The only other change I made was to use fresh sage rather than basil.  It really did make a big change in the taste, for the better in my opinion.  Sage and butternut are just a match made in heaven.

While I don't have a picture - dessert was chocolate peanut butter banana milkshakes.  It was meant to be peanut butter banana ice cream...but my 3rd attempt at ice cream making was yet again, unsuccessful!  The ice cream was way too soft, so I blended it up with store bought chocolate ice cream and served it up in coffee mugs.  Also well received, as I'm sure you can imagine :)

Spaghetti a la leftover wilted veggies

 Other than the veggies you see all chopped up (which all but the celery were Ontario), I used jarred tomato puree and I added some past-its-prime baby spinach when I combined the sauce and noodles. For flavour, a tsp each of oregano, thyme and basil. 2 tsp of balsamic vinegar, s&p, and a Tbsp of EVOO which I sauteed the veggies in before adding the sauce.  The noodles were 100% whole wheat, and each bowl is topped with a generous helping of freshly grated Parmesan.

Such a flavourful, healthy and inexpensive meal - 5 generous portions.

Roasted Tomato, Asparagus and Scallops tossed with Egg Noodles in a Dill Cream Sauce

 

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but good gravy this was amazing!  I didn't use a recipe for this, but was inspired by my local asparagus and tomatoes, and bag of frozen Argentinian scallops I'd been meaning to use.

I roasted the tomatoes at 350F for about an hour, they were swee-eet when they came out.  I steamed the chopped asparagus until cooked but slightly on the crunchy side, and seared the scallops over medium heat for about 1 minute per side, in batches so as to not crowd the pan.

When all this was done, I cooked the noodles in salted water, and made my sauce - which if you're looking for a healthy dinner option, you may want to stop ready now...the words whipping cream and butter are comin' at ya!

I melted about 3 Tbsp of butter over lowish heat, and sauteed a clove of minced garlic for couple of minutes.  I then added whipping cream - I think about 1/2 cup, as well as some light 5% cream, another 1/2 a cup-ish.  I brought this to a simmer, and let it simmer away while the noodles finished cooking, and added s&p to taste.  

When the noodles were done, I reserved one cup of the starchy cooking liquid from the pasta.   

I added the noodles to the the cream sauce along with 1/2 cup of fresh chopped dill, and about 1/3 cup of the starchy pasta water (which helps to thicken the sauce - you may need more or less).

When all the noodles were well coated, I added in the scallops, asparagus (of which I ate almost half the bunch while cooking) and tomatoes.  Toss again and serve to your delighted fiance :)  Bring leftovers to work the following day and wow your coworkers (it maaaay have something to do with the butter and cream).

Finally, I wanted to post a couple of photos from a great pilates potluck I had last week.  A pilates potluck is one that you have with the people you do pilates with :)  Thanks so much to host and head coach Jody and her husband Jon, who enthusiastically became one of us pilates gals for a night.

Pictured below are the all of the yummy things we ate (this was an all vegetarian meal for kosher purposes). Starting at the very top, courtesy of Dara, a Southwestern Bean and Corn Salad (a variety of beans and veggies is a nice smokey cumin dressing), below that a bowl of perfect Guacamole (thanks Jody and Jon!), to the right of the guac, courtesy of Joanne, a Mediterranean Couscous salad (with feta, tomatoes and zucchini tossed with a flavourful chili dressing). The red and white blob, the bag of crackers and the Tupperware of green spread were my contribution - an arugula walnut pesto hummus, a cranberry and port goat cheese, and Ace Bakery cranberry and raisin baguette crisps.  Randomly, we also had some chocolate chip vegan muffins to try (Jody's purchase from a local producer) - surprisingly moist and yummy!

The 2nd photo pictures the main dish prepared by Jody and Jon - butternut squash enchiladas. WOW! I have a copy of the recipe (from a running room magazine!)...and will be blogging about it at some point in the future.  It's a must-make.  It also fits it in to the tough gluten-free/vegetarian category that I sometimes struggle with.  The sweet and spicy filling, inside soft corn tortillas, with a savoury cheese and enchilada sauce topping is a crowd pleaser, while also being a great unique dish to serve to guests...and it sounds pretty simple to make too!

Unfortunately, we didn't get a photo of dessert which were AMAZING double chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing (all from scratch!) courtesy of Lauren.  Picture perfect little bundles of heaven with sprinkle on top :)

It's been a pretty decent cooking week I do say.  I have my second Wanigan delivery coming tomorrow.  I have requested a substitution in my delivery to ensure I receive some fiddleheads - which I promise to post about!

Happy Eating!

it's OFFICIALLY spring!

Ontario asparagus have arrived! I wasn't expecting to see any for a couple more weeks, but low and behold, they appeared...like miniature green angels...ok yes, a bit over-the-top, but the first taste of those little green stalks come spring is one of life's great simple pleasures.  Laugh at me all you want, but I taste happiness in fresh asparagus. 

Below are the contents of my first Wanigan Basket (which did not include the asparagus).
Everything looked good other than the lettuce - already dry and rusted at the leaf edges and cores the same day I received it.  Local apples, tomatoes, mushrooms and lettuce; all else was imported.  I was little disppointed in the delivery time - it came at 6:30pm Thursday evening, just as I had lost all hope and started prepping a box of KD for dins (gasp! I know...don't judge, I can't live without my once weekly-ish box).
This is the first time I didn't receive some sort of bin along with my delivery; a very organic-friendly looking man (you're on the right track if you're thinking long hair and beard) rang the doorbell and presented me with a large plastic bag of produce, which I then tossed into the recycling bin.  Surely, it must be recyclable - this is an organic food company...right?
I did receive an email prior to my delivery highlighting the week's upcoming available produce, as well as a link to what would come in my bag specifically.  I did not try to use the substitution option this week, but I will report on it next time - I should be able to substitute two items for no charge.
Verdict so far on the produce - GREAT fruit! Strawberries (tasted like REAL strawberries, not the grocery store frankenberries), extra juicy valencia oranges and crisp golden delicious apples (surprising considering these apples have been stored since the fall!). 

On to some cooking - which I admit has been far too infrequent.  Spring and summer bring about so much socializing!  It can be hard to find enough time to cook as much I'd like to.  It's not that I haven't been cooking meals at home, I've just been doing a lot of repeats, and nothing really blog-worthy unfortunately.  If anyone out there is willing to pay me to cook and develop amazing seasonal/local/healthy recipes as a full time career, please speak up now!

First up... 

Toasted Egg, Tomato (Local Wanigan), Cheddar, and Spinach Sammer

served with

Roasted Sunchoke, Carrot, and Potato Soup

Kind of a side note - but I wanted to point out a new grocery store find.  While I've repeatedly encouraged followers to make their own chicken stock whenever possible, I realize when you're short on time the tetrapaks are super duper convenient.  PC now makes no salt added chicken broth!  The sodium content of the commercial chicken broth (even the low sodium options) can be a little steep...voila! A perfect alternative!

This is a jerusalem artichoke or sunchoke; each of these is a size of a small potato.

Here I've chopped up 3 yellow carrots (local MEO), 2 potatoes (local MEO), and the sunchokes (MEO) pictured above. Roasted for about 30 minutes at 400F with some EVOO and s&p.  Once roasted, add them to a pan on the stovetop with enough chicken stock to cover all the veggies (about 3 cups), and simmer for 10 mins until everything is soft enough to blend up.  Blend with an immersion blender until smooth, add more stock if needed, and s&p to taste...to make it decadent, stir in a few Tbsp of cream or yogurt before serving.

The sunchokes have a great mild root vegetable flavour... sorry, terrible description!  This soup would be a crowd pleaser though; it's nice and thick, mild tasting, a little sweet, and a little decadent.

Next up... 

Seared Pork Tenderloin, Steamed Ontario Asparagus, and a Braised Swiss Chard and Bulgur Melange

Here is the gorgeous swiss chard all prepped for braising! To prep, wash thoroughly and chop.  To cook, heat 1 Tbsp EVOO over med-low heat, add 2 cloves minced garlic and sautee for 1 minute.  Add wet chard, and sautee for about 8 minutes, adding more liquid (water or chicken stock) as needed to avoid burning/drying out the chard. Add s&p to taste.

Pictured is Bob's Red Mill Bulgur - Bulgur is whole grain cracked wheat kernal.  To prepare - bring 2 parts water or other liquid to a boil with a pinch of salt, then add 1 part bulgur.  Simmer over low heat, covered, for 15 minutes.  I've never cooked it before, and it was easy peasy.  I mixed about 1 cup in with my braised chard, and it was a nice mix of textures - mixing it in with a veg also keeps you from overdoing the portion size - which I find is SO easy to do with starches at dinner.

I had a couple 3/4cup portions left over after dinner and packing a lunch, so I tried the leftovers as hot cereal the next two mornings.  I added 1/2 cup of milk and a little honey one day, and milk and strawberry jam the next.  Delicious! Try it! It kept me full for SO long too!

The finnished yumminess!!  This is what a healthy plate looks like in my opinion - mostly vegetables, no more than 6oz of lean meat, and a small portion of fibre-rich whole grains.

Looking at the Foodland Ontario website, I'm getting excited about the produce that's starting pop up!  While my love for root vegetables runs deep, after this week's asparagus, I am just aching for some more fresh spring goodness!

Enjoy this fabulous weather :) Get that BBQ going!