Carrot Muffins

Great for breakfast or a snack. To be honest, I haven't tried these yet because I'm really full from my dinner still... but they smell pretty good. I will update in the morning after I've had one for breakfast. I was a little scared when making them because the muffin dough is so much thicker then cake batter, but they seem to have turned out alright!

• All-purpose flour, 1 cup
• whole-wheat flour, 2/3 cup
• baking soda, 1/2 tsp
• baking powder, 1/2 tsp
• salt, 1/4 tsp
• cinnamon, 1/2 tsp
• large eggs, 2 
• vegetable oil, 1/2 cup
• brown sugar, 1/2 cup firmly packed
• carrots, 2-3 peeled and grated (1 an 1/2 cups)
• milk, 1/2 cup
• optional: walnuts 1/4 cup
• optional: raisins, 1/4 cup

Makes 10-12 muffins. 

Preheat the oven to 325. Line 10-12 cups of a standard muffin tin pan with paper liners. In a medium bowl, stir together flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, oil and brown sugar. Stir in carrots. Add flour mixture and milk. Stir until dry ingredients are evenly moistened. If using walnuts and raisins, add now. Spoon batter into prepared cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake until tops of muffins are set and spring back when lightly pressed, around 20-25 minutes. 

These store up to 2 days at room temperature in an air tight container or in zippered freezer bags and freeze up to 1 month. 

FUN FACT: carrots deep yellow-orange pigment is linked to reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. They are an excellent source of vitamin A. Whole-wheat flour is rich in insoluble fiber linked to improved digestive health. It provides antioxidants that enhance heart health. It is a source of complex carbs, which help regulate blood sugar. 

Sausage and Lentil Soup

Sausage and Lentil Soup

This recipe was inspired from the vegetable and lentil soup found in one of my new cook books. We decided adding sausage would make it delicious. It was very filling and very delicious! Wonderful for a cold day.

• brown lentils, 2 cups
• olive oil
• 4 sausages
• 1 yellow onion, chipped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 1 piece of celery, chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• chicken broth, 4 cups
• whole or diced can of tomato
• smoked paprika, 1 tsp
• ground cumin, 1 tsp
• thyme, 1 tsp
• salt, 1/2 tsp
• ground pepper, 1/4 tsp
• baby spinach or kale (or both!), a large handful
• red wine, 1/3 cup

Rinse lentils under cold running water and drain thoroughly. Put aside. Heat olive oil in a large pot. Remove sausage from its casing and add sausage to the pot. Break it up into bite sized pieces. Cook on medium heat. Once the sausage begins to brown, add onions, carrot and celery. Allow it to cook until softened, approximately 5-8 minutes. Add garlic, paprika, cumin and thyme. Cook for another 1-2 minutes. Poor in wine to deglaze the bottom of the pan. Add in can of tomatoes and its juices. If using a can of whole tomatoes, break them down with the spoon into bite sized chunks. Add lentils and chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer gently until lentils are tender. Approximately 20 minutes. Chop up kale or spinach (or both) and stir into soup. Cook for another minute. 

Garnished with parsley and fresh parmesan. Served with baguette (broiled with a drizzle of olive oil on top and then rubbed with garlic). 

FUN FACT: lentils are an excellent source of fiber, which helps regulate blood sugar. Extremely rich in heart-healthy nutrients like folate and potassium. Kale is a source of antioxidant known to prevent cancer and promote eye health and detoxification. It is an excellent source of vitamins A, C and K. Contains nutrients to help build strong bones. 

Butternut Tagliatelle with Crispy Bacon and Mushrooms

Butternut Tagliatelle with Crispy Bacon and Mushrooms

from "Drizzle and Dip" blog. Recipe found here. 

If I could eat one food for the rest of my life... it'd be this. Okay, that might be a little extreme but this is amazing. As said in the original blog, this is a wonderful change from regular old tomato sauces and cream based sauces. When mixing it all together and adding the bacon it reminded me a little of pasta carbonera, but this was better (and healthier) then any carbonera i've ever had!  

• 1 medium butternut, peeled and diced (about 4 heaped cups)
• olive oil for drizzling
• salt & pepper
• 4 slices prosciutto or Parma ham
• 150g mascarpone cheese
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 100g bacon, cut its bite sized pieces
• 120g brown mushrooms, sliced
• 2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
• 2 cloves of garlic 
• pinch of hot pepper flakes
• tagliatelle pasta

Preheat the oven to 400. Place the cubed butternut squash on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive, salt and pepper. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until tender and caramelized. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Put the butternut squash into a food processor or blender. While the oven is still hot, put the slices of prosciutto on the baking tray used for the squash and roast for 5 to 10 minutes or until crispy and curly. When the prosciutto is ready, set aside. Blend the butternut squash, mascarpone cheese and chicken stock until smooth. Set aside. Heat a large frying pan and cook the bacon. Set aside. In the same pan, add butter and cook the mushrooms. When they start to get all nice and brown, add the thyme and garlic. Cook for another few minutes. Add the butternut squash mixture, the regular bacon and a pinch of hot pepper flakes to the pan and mix. Boil water, and a generous pinch of salt and cook the pasta according to instructions. Save some pasta water to thin down the butternut squash sauce in the pan (approx 60 ml). When the pasta is cooked, add to the sauce.

We garnished our with the prosciutto, fresh parsley, parmesan cheese and pumpkin seeds! Yum. Yum yum yum. Yum. I can't wait for lunch tomorrow because I'm eating left overs. 

FUN FACT: butternut squash is an excellent source of vitamin A and beta-carotene, power antioxidants. It also provides vitamin C and fiber and is an ample amount of potassium which helps regulate blood pressure. 

Maple-Glazed Sweet Potato Wedges & Sautéed Brussels Sprouts with Lemon

Maple Glazed Sweet Potato Wedges & Sautéed Brussels Sprouts with Lemon served with pork chop

I'm baaaaaaaack! I got home from work today and there were two brand new cookbooks sitting on the counter for me. I'm pretty sure they were supposed to be Christmas presents but they forgot to hide them... and then we wanted to use recipes.

Sautéed Brussels Sprouts with Lemon

• brussels sprouts (1 lb)
• olive oil, 2 tbsp
• lemon zest, from half a lemon
• 3 tbsp of lemon juice
• salt, 1/4 tsp
• freshly ground pepper
• squirt of dijon mustard
• splash of white wine

Peel off the outer layer of the Brussels sprout and cut them in half lengthwise. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium to high heat. When the oil is hot, and sprouts. Mix around. Add lemon zest, salt, and pepper. Keep heat high, stirring constantly, but adjusting the temperature to avoid scorching the leaves. You want the sprouts to be lightly brown around the edges and tender. This should take 7-8 minutes. Add in lemon juice and cook for another minute. At this point, my sister and I decided a squirt of dijon mustard and a splash of white would be an excellent addition. We were correct. Top with a little extra zest! 

FUN FACT: brussels sprouts are loaded with folate and vitamins C and K; they're filled with compounds that are thought to detoxify and protect against cancer; and they're rich in fiber! 

Maple-Glazed Sweet Potato Wedges

• 4 sweet potatoes
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 450. Peel the sweet potato (if you want...) and cut into 1/4 inch rounds. Then cut though rounds in half. In a large bowl, whisk together maple syrup, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and cayenne. Add the wedges and coat evenly. Arrange the wedges in a single layer on a baking sheet and drizzle any left over glaze. Roast for 15 minutes and then flip over. Cook for another 15 minutes. The sweet potatoes should have a caramelized color and be tender when poked with a fork. 

FUN FACT: sweet potatoes are high in fiber, contain a large amount of vitamin B6 and potassium (heart healthy), contain vitamin A which is useful in preventing cancer, they are a great source of magnesium, and are rich in vitamin C and E which also help prevent disease! 

The pork chop was very simple. Salt and pepper on each side. Olive oil drizzled into a pan on high. When the pan is hot the pork chops were added, heat turned down to medium. Cooking time depends on how thick the pork chops are, but sear on both sides until nice and golden brown. Pour in some white wine, 1 clove of crush garlic, a pinch of hot pepper flakes, and a squeeze of lemon juice. If your pork chops are on the thicker  side, you may have to pop them in the oven for a few minutes. 

Oh and this was all delicious. 

Brussel Sprout and Bacon Pizza

My sister and I have developed a weird obsession with brussel sprouts thanks to her boyfriend. We probably have them about once a week. Maybe twice. This time we made brussel sprout and bacon pizza! MMMMM.

First we used this recipe to make the brussel sprouts delicious. Then we used this recipe for really quick pizza dough. Instead of baking it in the oven for 20 minutes like I indicated on the homemade pizza recipe, we lightly oiled a frying pan (which we could put in the oven) and let the dough get nice an brown underneath while putting the topping on it. Then we popped it under the broiler until it was all nice and melted.

Toppings: tomato sauce (with a splash of sherry vinegar, garlic, s & p, hot pepper flakes and olive oil), monterey jack cheese, brussel sprouts.

Chipotle Chicken Fajitas with Creamy Black Bean Spread

Move over old el paso fajitas! We made these delicious fajitas last week. A little more time consuming then old el paso, but worth it.

The black bean spread is super good. My sister and I were thinking it could even be used as a dip for some chips. Or just eat it on its own. Just kidding that's weird... but it is really good.

The chicken marinade is really tasty. We made it again this week to eat on its own.

Recipe and instructions were followed very closely.

We topped ours with peppers, avocado, cheese, the spread, chicken and fresh cilantro.

Banana Bread with Cinnamon Swirl

Photo Credit: Melody

I got this recipe from Mel. She had made it recently and brought some over to my house so I asked her to write the recipe down so I could make it too! Very delicious. The cinnamon swirl is an added yum to the always good banana bread.

To be honest, we complete blanked and forgot to put the butter in it even though I had made my brother go to the store this morning to get some. Looks like it turned out anyway, but I'd add the butter next time!

It pairs very nicely with the apple cider and goldscholger drink that I'm enjoying right now. Mm the taste of fall.




Ingredients:
3 bananas                           1 tsp baking soda
1 egg (room temperature)   1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup melted butter          1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar                      salt
1/3 cup sugar                      1 tbs cinnamon

Instructions:
Peel and mush the bananas in a large bowl. Mix in sugar, egg, vanilla and butter. Add baking soda & pinch of salt. Do not over mix. Add flour and mix.  Pour a little over half the batter into the baking pan. Mix cinnamon and sugar. Add 2/3 of it on top of the batter. Using a knife without going all the way to the bottom of the pan, swirl around the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Top with the remaining batter. Sprinkle the remaining sugar/cinnamon on top. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Shepherd's Pie II

 Shepherd's pie take two! I made a sweet potato shepherd's pie a few months back. This is different twist. I made enough to serve 8 people.

Ingredients:

• 7 medium sized potatoes 
• 1/2 cup milk (approximately)
• 2 tbs butter (approximately)
• pinch of salt and big pinch of pepper
• pinch of garlic powder
• 1 1/2 (small) packs of lean ground beef
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/4-1/2 purple onion
• 3 sprigs of fresh thyme
• sprinkle of salt and pepper
• 1/4-1/3 of a cup each (approximate) of spicy gourmet BBQ, chicken/ribs bbq sauce/ ketchup
• 1 tbs worcestershire sauce 
• 1 cup of frozen corn
• 1-2 stocks of celery
• 6 baby carrots

Directions: 

• Preheat oven to 350. 
• Peel and cut potatoes. Place in pot of water. Bring to a boil until potatoes allow a fork to pierce easily. Drain water. Mash potatoes with a masher. Add butter, milk, salt, pepper and garlic powder. I also used a hand mixer to try and get them smooth. 
• While potatoes are boiling, put ground beef in a pan. Brown meat. Depending on how much grease there is, you may have to strain the beef or scoop some out. There was only a light coating so I used it. 
• Add chopped onion and garlic to the beef. Stir and let onions soften a bit. Add chopped celery and carrots. Add chopped fresh thyme, salt, pepper. Add BBQ sauce/ketchup/worcestershire sauce. Add frozen corn. 
• Line a baking dish (slightly greased, especially on the sides) with the meat/veg mixture. Top with a smooth layer of potatoes. 
• Bake for 30 minutes at 350 or until bubbling. Then broil for a few minutes to crisp up the top. 

You can add grated cheese on top of the potato, or even in the meat mixture, which would be super delicious. But my sister's boyfriend doesn't like cheese (you're weird Ryan) so I only added it on top to part of the finished product! 

Spicy Thai Beef

I found a Thai restaurant on Queen Street recently that had very good food and an amazing patio. Conor got a Spicy Thai Beef dish and it was SO good. I then wanted to learn how to recreate it so I looked for a few recipes. This was the best (looking) recipe I found, however I didn't follow it entirely.

Changes to the ingredients:

• no green bell peppers - red and yellow only. 
• extra garlic (approximately 3 cloves). 
• lots more red curry paste (approximately 4-5 tablespoons).
• an entire can of coconut milk
• zest of an entire lime and juice of 2 limes. 
• no bamboo shoot because I forgot to buy it.
• Around 4 tablespoons of fish sauce. 
• Green onions for a garnish. 

Changes to directions: 

• Cooked the beef first. Then put to the side. 
• Cooked the vegetables second. 
• Added lime juice when lime zest was added.

That's about it! My family really enjoyed it, but I think I was too critical because of the spicy beef I'd had recently at the restaurant. I wanted the sauce to be thicker, sort of like the thai soup I made this summer. Maybe less of the coconut water and more of the thick part of the coconut. I'm not sure. A good start though! 

Spicy Black Bean Chicken Enchiladas with Pumpkin Sour Cream Sauce

Well my sister and I made Spicy Black Bean Chicken Enchiladas with Pumpkin Sour Cream Sauce  (what a mouthful!) tonight instead of going to the gym. Whoops. Do I regret it? Not one bit. These were heavenly. I'm not sure how my dad did it, but he had 2 and a 1/2 helpings. He just liked it that much. I on the other hand was full after my one. That could have been due to eating the filling while making it...

Pumpkin in chicken enchiladas? But that's madness! Nope. Pure genius. It gave it that je ne said quoi.

The pumpkin sour cream sauce ingredients were followed. We just mixed them in a bowl instead of a good processor.

Instead of using a rotisserie chicken, we baked some chicken breasts and then shredded them with forks. Chicken was seasoned with some random delicious seasoning I can't remember right now.

We didn't spray the pan. Just put some of the pumpkin sauce on the bottom. We put the chicken into the black bean-onion mixture, as well as a big dollop of the pumpkin sauce, a handful or two of shredded cheese and some chopped cilantro. We thought this was a better way to get a mixture of everything in each bite instead of putting them in separately. After we put the enchiladas into the pan, we covered with the remaining pumpkin sauce and sprinkled with cheese.

We collectively decided this will be something we will be making again and again in our house!

Summer Risotto

Well this was pretty similar to the primavera pasta I made with my sister a ways back, but in risotto form!

We were going to bbq the vegetables and then we found out there was no propane, so we fried them and made risotto to change it up.

Vegetables used: zucchini  yellow pepper, red pepper, onion, corn.

Goat's cheese for some extra creaminess. May have been a splash of lemon to brighten it up.

A nice 'summer' risotto with all the vegetables in it.

This is a boring post but has been sitting in my draft box and just wanted to publish it.

Rosemary Pasta with Chicken

I made this with my brother the night of the big storm a week or two ago. He made the rosemary chicken - marinated in olive oil, rosemary, garlic, salt, pepper and lemon - grilled on the stove top in our grill pan.
I made the pasta - after the chicken was done, I added butter to the pan and tossed in some chopped onion and garlic. Once the onions were soft, I added some white wine to deglaze the pan. Then I added some chicken stock, cream, more rosemary, thyme, hot pepper flakes and kale. You've got to be patient and let the sauce thicken, or you can toss in some cornstarch if you're lazy (take some sauce from the pan and mix the cornstarch in - then add to the pan).
It was a last minute easy throw together pasta dish that was quite tasty. The rosemary gave it a different flavour than my usual pasta!

Pork Schnitzel Sandwich

This is from last week, but I forgot to post it! I was still healing from my wisdom teeth but challenged myself to eat it. The sandwich was huge and I had to cut it as well as smoosh it down, but mmm it was so good. My dad made the actually schnitzle while I made the sauce.

For the pork: pound out boneless pork chops so they are very thin. Sprinkle some salt, pepper and oregano on it. Dip in flour. Dip in egg. Dip in breadcrumbs. Heat canola over medium heat. When hot, add in pounded out pork. Cook for a few minutes on each side. You want a nice golden brown outside.

You can put any marinara sauce on top. For ours, I simply chopped up the onions, mushrooms and garlic and fried them in some butter and olive oil until soft. Then I added a splash of red wine and some tomato passata (crushed tomatoes). I spiced it was salt, pepper, thyme and oregano.

On top of a nice fresh toasted kaiser bun, I put the pork schnitzel, monterey jack cheese (or whatever cheese), a spoon full of sauce and sprinkle some extra oregano and fresh parmesan.

Sausage and Broccoli Bake

I got my wisdom teeth out recently. It sucked. It's been a week now and I'm still a little swollen and I'm very bruised. The worst part about it all was my inability to eat solid food for a few days. After becoming sick of yogurt, mushed bananas, meal replacement drinks and apple sauce, I tried blending some food. To be honest it wasn't that bad at the time (mashed potato, sausage and broccoli.. hmm I seem to have a theme here), but the next day the thought of it made me sick. I was dying for some real food so on my 4th day of recovery my dad made spaghetti and I cut it into teeny tiny bites and managed to eat a normal sized bowl in about an hour. I tackled some scrambled eggs the next morning and a stir-fry that night. Again in teeny tiny pieces. By saturday I had a little more jaw movement and I could eat... sort of.  Tonight I said screw it, I'm going to make a yummy dinner and I'm going to force it in my mouth. So I did. Mmmm.

Ingredients: hot italian sausage, onion, garlic, thyme, white wine, butter, flour, cheese (whatever you have - cheddar, parmesan, monterey jack) , broccoli, penne, bread crumbs.

Directions: 
1. Fry up some hot italian sausage. When cooked, remove from pan and put aside. Also put a pot of water on to boil -- when it boils at whatever stage, add pasta and cook till just about done. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Dice up 1 onion and 2 cloves of garlic. Toss in pan that the sausage was cooked in. Let the onions get a nice brown caramely color. Toss in some fresh chopped thyme.
3. Deglaze the pan with a splash of white wine. This already creates a slight sauce (with the wine, grease from the sausage and onions all mixing together). Toss in some butter and whisk in some flour slowly(we're making a roux - think mac'n'cheese). This roux is different than normal because the onions are there... It's hard to explain. It kind of just sticks to the onions. If you add too much flour, just toss in more butter. You want a smooth consistency  Once you think there is enough flour/butter, pour in some milk and whisk. A thick sauce should start to form. I added about 1 cup of milk to 1 tbs of flour and a dollop of butter. To make more 'sauce' I tossed in about 1/2 cup of chicken stock as well.
4. Add cheese to sauce - I used a combo of cheddar, monetary jack and parmesan. I added about 3/4 cup of cheese, if not more. 
5.   Quickly steam some broccoli in the microwave or on the stove to al dente. Add the bite size pieces to the sauce.
6. When the pasta is cooked, return to pot. Add sausage and the sauce with the broccoli. Mix together and put into a lightly greased pyrex or casserole dish. Top with more cheese and bread crumbs. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes and then a quick broil (no more than 2 minutes) to crisp up the bread crumbs.

This is in no way healthy, but what else is new with me. It's friggen delicious. Enjoy!

Chicken Primavera Pasta

My 100th blog post! Woooo! Last night I was feeling so fickle about what I wanted for dinner. All I knew was I wanted veggies. Lots of veggies. Grilled veggies. My sister and I headed to the grocery store and wandered around the vegetable section picking out a few things and discussing our dinner options. We decided we'd make our own version of Chicken Primavera Pasta, but with grilled veggies.

Now you can put any vegetables you'd like in a primavera pasta, but here is what we decided on: red peppers, yellow peppers, orange peppers, zucchini, purple cauliflower, corn, onions, spinach, kale and garlic. It was pretty veggie-tastic.

First we cut the vegetables into grill-able pieces and then we coated them in some olive oil and salt/pepper. Grilled them until they were ready, but with a slight crunch still remaining. We marinated chicken in olive oil, thyme, salt/pepper and garlic. Grilled that after the veggies were done. The chicken and peppers were cut into long strips, the zucchini into half moons, the cauliflower into bite size pieces and the corn shaved off. The vegetables were put into a bowl and tossed with some garlic.

We cooked spaghetti and before draining reserved 1/2 cup of pasta water. We drizzled a little lemon infused olive oil on the pasta, a big splash of white wine, the pasta water and chicken stock. Added the grilled vegetables, then the fresh spinach and kale, the chicken strips and mixed it around. Then we added some goat's cheese and mixed that in allowing it to melt and coat the pasta along with the liquid in the pot.

Lightly coated and packed full of yummy grilled vegetables and chicken, this was delicious. And a good change from our pastas full of heavy cream! The purple cauliflower and the corn were my favourite additions to this!

Thai Coconut Curry Soup

My friend Zsófi found this recipe and asked if we could cook together. Good find because it was very yummy!

It wasn't as "broth-y" as expected (from the picture on the original blog), but I think that was better. It was more of a pasta sauce consistency. We even added some extra chicken broth when we added the noodles because we couldn't get them all underneath the liquid. I added some extra thai curry paste because I like the curry flavour. Make sure you buy red thai curry paste (which can be found in a different section than the Indian curry paste). The soup is rather lime-y, but in a good way!

We didn't use lime leaves because we couldn't find them. I'm not really sure if they would have changed the flavour at all, but the soup was excellent without it. I omitted the "cilantro roots" because we didn't buy them and also they're only in the list, not in the actual directions. We found lemon grass stocks, to my surprise, at Metro in the vegetable section.

We didn't add any salt or soya sauce at the end because we didn't think it needed it. The soup is very mild, so if you want it hot i'd suggest tossing in some hot pepper flakes for an added kick, but again the soup is good without it!

This is my second attempt at Thai food. The first time I made Thai chicken wraps. Both Thai dishes are very good and I recommend both! They were both relatively easy.

Balsamic Roasted Tomatoes and Italian Sausage Risotto

So this risotto was supposed to be made with soft chorizo, but my dad couldn't find any when he went grocery shopping so we used hot italian sausage. Because of the change in sausage, the risotto turned out a little different than would have been expected, but still very delicious.

I'm not even a big fan of tomatoes, but balsamic roasted tomatoes are one of the tastiest things I've ever had! I wish I'd put twice the amount in than I did!

The key to cooking risotto is patience, medium heat and the right amount of liquid. Really let the arborio rice absorb the liquid. Give it a good stir every time you put more liquid in.

My dad really liked it and since chorizo sausage is about the only kind of sausage you can find in Mexico City, he's asked for the recipe so he can make it the 'proper' way! Lucky!

Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese with Bacon, Caramelized Onions and Apple

Mmmmm. Dinner last night was so good. Conor brought over some deliciously marinated pork chops and I made a side of Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese with Bacon Caramelized Onions and Apple.

For the butternut squash purée that the recipe asks for, I made my own using this recipe. I used 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and add no salt because I used salted butter. I could have ate it by itself with a spoon.

For the macaroni, I used the chicken broth option, grated the apple instead of chopping, and 1 cup of cheddar cheese because I love cheese. It was so creamy and delicious tasting.

Good for eating as a side to some meat or as the main course!

BBQ Potatoes

It's BBQ season! Here is a recipe that my family uses a lot. To my knowledge, one of my parents made it up; however, it's quite possible it is from somewhere.

Ingredients:
serves 3-4 people
- 4-5 medium-large potatoes
- 1 medium-large white onion
- 2-3 cloves of garlic
- salt and pepper
- thyme
- olive oil

Instructions:
Preheat the BBQ to medium-high heat.

Slice potatoes into thin rounds, approximately 2 mm thick, place aside in a bowl. Slice onion into rounds, add to bowl. Chop garlic cloves, add to bowl. Sprinkle thyme, salt and pepper onto the potatoes. Cover potatoes lightly with olive oil. Mix all together.

The amount of potatoes above will be put into two foil pouches. To assemble: lay flat a piece of aluminum foil, approximately the size for a piece of paper. Put half the potatoes on top. Fold edges inwards. It is quite possible that there will still be an opening. Take another piece of aluminum goil and cover the top and fold edges over. Repeat for remaining potatoes.

Cook potatoes for 45 minutes to an hour, carefully flipping the foil packet every 10 minutes or so.

Pork Tenderloin Cordon Bleu with Mushroom-Mustard Cream Sauce and Oven Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Smokey Bacon

Team effort by my sister and I last night. Jess was in charge of the pork tenderloin and I made the brussel sprouts. So much pork involved in this dinner. It was delicious.

For the pork tenderloin, recipe was followed pretty much exactly; however, we used plain dijon mustard instead of coarse-ground mustard. I would have liked to use the coarse-ground mustard as I've had a roast marinated with it before and it was to die for, but we didn't want to add to our grocery list. We also just used normal deli ham - I'm not sure if 'tavern ham' is a specific kind or not. Nonetheless, the pork tenderloin was delicious! There was 4 of us, we ate it all. Every last bit.

For the brussel sprouts, I just used normal bacon, salt, dijon mustard and honey instead of the 'special' kinds mentioned in the recipe. I also added in 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper for a little added kick. I lined the baking sheet with aluminium foil instead of parchment paper. I forgot to turn them until the last 10 minutes, but that turned out to be okay. They are cooked until golden brown and slightly charred. It doesn't explicitly say it in the recipe, so I'll just mention it here: the bacon gets mixed in raw and cooks in the oven. These brussel sprouts were so so so so good. I've only had brussel sprouts a few times and I've never been particularly crazy about them, but I wanted to eat them all too myself.

Chicken Tikka Masala - Round 2

My sister and I made Chicken Tikka Masala. I'll admit, she did more of the cooking, I did more of the stirring and taste testing. It was a different recipe from what I used last time I made it. The recipe used this time was more authentic with lots more random spices in it, which we conveniently had at our house because we have a whole wack of spices. Cardamon pods... I'm going to be honest. Had never heard of them before... but we had them. Perks of living with a family that likes to cook! It was also a little more 'difficult' than the first recipe. We followed the recipe completely, don't think we did one thing different! Very delicious. Very very delicious. Not as spicy as the last one I made, but I was okay with that.

Healthy Fettuccine Alfredo

My sister found a recipe for 'cauliflower sauce'. The blogger raved about it and used it with just about everything - as a white sauce for pizza, in some rice dish, and as a healthy option to fettuccine Alfredo.

We used this recipe as a start, but as per usual my sister and I don't really like to follow recipes very closely.

Ingredients: 
- 1 medium-large head of cauliflower
- 8 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 cup of milk
- pinch of nutmeg, salt, pepper, tarragon (to taste)
- 1 large chicken breast (thyme, olive oil, garlic, lemon, salt and pepper)
- red pepper
- gruyere cheese
- fettuccine noodles

Directions: 
1. Chop chicken into bite size pieces. Marinate in olive oil, garlic (some of the garlic from the 8 cloves), lemon, salt and pepper.
2. Chop the cauliflower. Bring water to boil in a large pot and add cauliflower. Cook until cauliflower is soft, about 15 minutes.
3. In a large pan, brown chicken in a little butter (or olive oil).
4. When cauliflower is soft, transfer to a blender with 1/2 cup to 1 cup of the water. You may need to do it in batches depending on the size of the blender. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add 1/2 cup of milk. Puree until very smooth, about 5 minutes.
5. With the remaining water in the cauliflower pot, cook fettuccine.
5. Add chopped red peppers and the garlic to the pan with the chicken. Cook for a few minutes until the red peppers begin to soften.
6. Add the cauliflower sauce the the pan with the chicken, red peppers and garlic. Add More nutmeg, salt, pepper to taste. Add some tarragon. Add some gruyere cheese (maybe 1/2 cup). Stir until cheese is melted.
7. Combine cooked noodles and sauce. Enjoy!

It was pretty good! And you don't feel nearly as guilty eating it as you would eating a big bowl of fettuccine! It's very light!

Fancy Mac and Cheese

I've been pretty busy with exams recently so haven't had anytime to post anything. I haven't even been cooking fancy meals because I haven't had time. I only have 1 exam left and then I'm all done university! Scary stuff. When I look into my future (aka this summer), I foresee lots of fun dishes that I have bookmarked and I'm dying to try, so stay tuned!
I made this fancy mac and cheese 2 weeks ago with my sister at home in Toronto. It should be filed under 'close your eyes and don't pay attention to how much cheese you're adding'... if that were a file you kept. It had FIVE different cheeses in it: fontina, gruyere, parmesan, blue cheese and goat's cheese. So basically not healthy but unbelievably delicious. A treat to be saved for a rare occasion! The cheese sauce was delicious enough to eat with a spoon... but we totally didn't do that at all.

We followed the recipe pretty closely. Here were our changes:

• We didn't have macaroni so we used rigatoni. I think it would have worked out better if we used macaroni... the rigatoni noodles were too big.
• When roasting the mushrooms, we added garlic and fresh thyme to give the mushrooms more flavour. 
• We also added some fresh thyme to the onions while they were cooking. 
• We omitted the 1/2 and 1/2 cream because it already had enough fat and creaminess in it, we wanted to feel a little better about ourselves. 
• For the egg, we separated the egg yolks from the egg whites. We only used the egg yolks. 
• I can't remember exactly, but I believe we only baked it for 15-20 minutes. 

Monte Cristoe Sandwich

This is basically a fancy ham and cheese sandwich. I got the idea to make it from a website called myfridgefood.com by putting all the ingredients I had in the my fridge and then it telling me what I could make.

Ingredients:
- 1 egg
- 1 and 1/2 tsp milk
- pepper & thyme
- 2 slices of bread
- thinly sliced black forrest ham
- cheese of your choice (I used cheddar)
- mayonaise
- dijon

Instructions:
1. Beat egg, milk, some pepper and some thyme in a bowl. Set aside.
2. Assemble sandwich: spread desired amount of mayonaise and dijon (you can omit one or both if you don't like them) on each slice of bread. Cover each slice of bread with cheese and put the ham as the middle layer. Put the slices together.
3. Begin melting a slice of butter in a pan over medium heat.
4. Soak sandwich in egg mixture while keeping the sandwich together (like if you were making french toast).
5. Fry sandwich in the butter like you were making grilled cheese. Sandwich is done when it is nicely toasted and the cheese has melted.

It is surprisingly filling for one sandwich!

Black Bean, Corn and Chicken Quesadillas

Original recipe from this website. Their original version is vegetarian (with the possibility of becoming vegan with the removal of cheese).

I really like cheese, so there was no way I was omitting that. And I, at first, thought the quesadilla would be missing something without chicken. The addition of the chicken was wonderful, but I would still have eaten it without the chicken!

Ingredients: in order of appearance...
servings: two quesadillas
- 1/3 cup frozen corn kernels (thawed or slightly thawed)
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 1/3 chopped onion (purple or white, I used white)
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic (approximately 2 cloves)
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (I used closer to 3/4 teaspoon... next time may even add 1 teaspoon)
- 1/3 cup black beans (from a can)
- 1/3 cup diced tomato
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- salt
- 2 flour tortillas (plain or whole wheat, original recipe says to use 8-inch tortillas, I used 'large' tortillas... I'm not sure how many inches they were)
2/3 cup cheddar cheese (this is the one ingredient I didn't measure because I love cheese and did not want to be limited)

If adding chicken to your quesadilla...
- 1/2 uncooked chicken breast, cut into small thin pieces (a whole chicken breast will work too, I just didn't want the quesadilla to get too full)
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- squeeze of lime juice

Instructions:
1. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot, about 2 minutes.
2. Add the corn and cook, stirring occasionally, until the kernels begin to brown slightly (approximately 3-5 minutes); transfer to medium sized bowl.
3. Heat 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil in now-empty skillet over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, approximately 3 minutes.
4. Add garlic and chili powder and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute; stir in beans and tomato and cook until heated through, about 1 minute.
5. Return corn to the skillet and toss to combine for about 1 minute. Transfer mixture to empty bowl. Stir in lime juice and season with salt.
6. If using chicken... Mix chicken, chili powder, garlic, and lime juice in a bowl. Heat 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil in original pan over medium heat. Add chicken to pan and cook until done, mixing around to cook all sides, approximately 5 minutes. Add to bowl with bean and corn mixture.
7. Carefully wipe out skillet with paper towels and return to medium heat. After hot, add 1 tortilla and toast until soft and puffed slightly at edges, approximately 2 minutes. Flip and do the same to the other side.
8. Remove first tortilla from skillet and replace second tortilla and repeat above step.
9. With the removed tortilla on a plate or clean surface, sprinkle shredded cheese and 1/2 the bean/corn/chicken mixture on half the tortilla, leaving 1/2-inch border around the edge. Top with a little more cheese and fold.
10. Put folded quesadilla in skillet over medium heat and allow to crisp. After about 1-2 minutes, carefully flip over to crisp the other side.
11. Cut and enjoy!

Homemade Pizza

Homemade pizza dough:

- 1 cup of all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- glug of olive oil
- 1/2 cup lukewarm water

Instructions: 
1. Put the dry ingredient in a bowl.
2. Add a 'glug' of olive oil (my guess for that measurement would be 1/2 tsp-ish)
3. Stir with a spoon and add little by little the 1/2 cup of water.
4. After the dough starts to come together it is easier to use your hands to form it into a ball.

** If there is still an excess of flour in the bowl after the 1/2 cup of water, slowly add a little more water. The dough should feel moist, but not too sticky. If you add too much water, just sprinkle in a little more flour. 

5. Roll out dough to desired shape/size. With this recipe I always roll out the dough so it is a thin crust.
** It is a good idea to sprinkle surface and rolling pin with a little flour so the dough does not stick.
6. Preheat the oven to 400. ** If your oven takes a long time to heat up, do this before making the dough.
7. Top dough with desired topping and bake for 20 minutes.

Favourite tomato sauce topping: some plain tomato sauce, sprinkle with dried basil, thyme, and chopped garlic. 

Variations that I've made: 
1. Simple: tomato sauce (with dried basil, thyme and garlic), cheddar cheese. For a plain pizza, this was delicious.
2. Sausage # 1: tomato sauce (with dried basil, thyme and garlic), cooked spicy italian sausage, broccoli, mozzarella cheese. (Maybe also some fried onions, I can't remember).
3. Sausage #2: tomato sauce (with dried basil, thyme and garlic), cooked spicy italian sausage, feta, arugula and spinach.
4. Bacon, mushroom, spinach: tomato sauce (with dried basil, thyme and garlic), cheddar cheese, cooked bacon, friend mushrooms and garlic spinach.
5. BBQ Chicken & Bacon Pizza: tomato sauce (with garlic, splash of red wine vinegar, salt and pepper), cooked chicken mixed in BBQ sauce, cooked bacon, leeks, cheddar cheese, extra BBQ Sauce. 

As you can see, I like to make pizza a lot. This is really easy and takes only about 30 minutes!  

Shepherd's Pie with Sweet Potato

I'm pretty broke so I didn't want to go to the grocery store... plus I'm pretty lazy. However, I was lucky enough to have all the ingredients for Shepherd's Pie... sort of. I only had sweet potato, not normal potatoes. But sweet potato being my new found love, I didn't see why it wouldn't work for a Shepherd's Pie.

My dad has always made Shepherd's Pie for the family. And a good Shepherd's Pie at that. His recipe is very simple and delicious, but I jazzed it up a bit because I was feeling fancy.

I don't have measurements because I buy meat in bulk and then freeze it in different portion sizes. Then I guess for the rest of the ingredients depending on how much meat I'm using. Any questions on how much of what to put in it though, I'd be happy to hazard a guess!

Ingredients:
for the meat part...
ground beef
onions
garlic
BBQ Sauce (this is me being fancy)
Oregano
S & P

for the potatoes...

sweet potatoes (or normal potatoes if you have them)
milk

butter

S & P

garlic (this is me being fancy)

extra...

frozen corn

cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Fry up ground beef in a pan. While the beef is frying, dice up onions and garlic. Also chop up potatoes and put into a pot of water. Bring to a boil.

3. When cooked, drain the grease from the ground beef. Add the onions, garlic, oregano, s & p, and BBQ to the meat. Mix around. 

4. When the potatoes have cooked, drain and mash. Add milk, butter, s & p, and garlic.

5. Transfer the meat into an oven safe baking dish. Add a layer of frozen corn and then a layer of mashed potatoes on top of the ground beef. Cover with shredded cheddar cheese.

6. Bake for 40 minutes. You can also put it under the broiler for a couple of minutes (keep an eye on it!) to crisp up the top a little more.

I really liked the addition of the BBQ sauce. It made the meat part really yummy. My only criticism for this dish was there wasn't enough meat (because I didn't defrost enough)!

Pasta with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Another recipe from Pioneer Woman tonight. I'm 'bringing back' this roasted red pepper sauce . My sister found it on Pioneer Women's website a while ago and has made it a few times for dinner back in Toronto.

It's a nice change up from a red tomato sauce. The hardest part is roasting the peppers, but it's not even hard. Plus, you could always buy already roasted peppers from the grocery store. Here is a straight forward and easy way to roast peppers.

Pioneer Woman's instructions are straight forward and very easy to follow. I didn't do anything different!

Enjoy!

Mediterranean Tilapia

I tried my hand at fish again last night! I made tilapia sometime last year and although I enjoyed it, I said that next time I'd make it, it would be more flavourful. I made Mediterranean tilapia for dinner last night and it was great! Much better flavour than the last one. I used this recipe as a start, and played around with it.

As I said last time, I'm not a big fish eater. Tilapia is not very fishy, so if you're trying to start eating fish, tilapia is a good place to start. 

For two people: in order of appearance
1 onion, sliced into rings

salt and pepper

2 tilapia filets

splash of white wine (enough to just cover the bottom of the pan)
2-3 tomatoes, diced

1 clove of garlic, crushed

5 kalamata olives, chopped (or more depending on how much you like olives)

1/2-1 tsp oregano, 1/2-1 tsp basil, 1-4-1/2 tsp hot pepper flakes (depends on how your'e feeling)
'glug' olive oil
squeeze of lemon juice (x 2)
feta (however much you want. I love feta)

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Layer bottom of your pan with onion slices. Salt and pepper the tilapia and then place on top of the onions. Pour in splash of white wine so it just covers the bottom of the pan. 

3. In a bowl, mix diced tomatoes, garlic, olives, spices, with some olive oil to moisten the mixture and a squeeze of lemon juice. Place mixture on top of the tilapia. 

4. Drizzle with a little extra olive oil, cover with tin foil and bake for 20 minutes. 

5. Uncover, squeeze a little more lemon on top. Top with desired amount of feta and bake for 15 more minutes.

The fish is done when it flakes at the top of the fork and has turned white. Served with garlic spinach and rice. I made this for my housemate and I. She eats fish and other seafood, but had never had tilapia so was 'scared' (her words) to eat it. She really enjoyed it though! 

Thai Chicken Wraps

 Dinner for two! My housemate Lindsey is a 'wrap' girl. When I think of a wrap, I think of her. That may be weird, but it's true. When I was on pioneer women yesterday finding my dinner, I also stumbled upon this recipe for thai chicken wraps.

I thought it looked pretty good and so did she, so we made it for dinner tonight. It exceeded all my expectations. I thought it'd be good... but it was phenomenal. I will definitely be making it again. The sauce was delicious, and then the fresh vegetable crunch and peanut crunch just added something so good.

Her post for this gets a little confusing, so I'm just going to write it out here (with my adjustments).

In a bowl, mix together the 1 tbs rice wine vinegar, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1 tsp sriracha, juice of 2 limes, 1 tbs ginger (fresh or powder - whichever you have), 1 clove of crushed garlic . Whisk it together, then pour off half the liquid into a separate bowl.

For the peanut sauce: To make the peanut sauce, combine all the 1/2 cup of peanut butter, 3 tbs soy sauce, 3 tablespoons honey, 1 tsp (or more) sriracha, juice of 1 lime and then add water until it gets to a nice drizzle-able consistency. Taste and add more of what it needs: spice, sweetness, etc. Set aside.

Dice the 2 chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and put them into the bowl you used to make the marinade. Throw in the squeezed lime halves and set this aside to marinate for a bit.

Into the small bowl with the other half of the marinade, whisk in the 1 tsp cornstarch and 3 tbs honey.

In a heavy skillet over high heat, pour in a small amount of oil. When it's hot, add the chicken pieces in a single layer. Let it sit on one side, undisturbed, for about a minute, then stir the chicken around and cook it until it's totally done, about 3 to 4 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, then pour in the sauce that you mixed in a separate bowl. Stir it around; the sauce will immediately start to thicken. Cook over low heat for 1 minute, then remove from heat and allow to cool.

Cut up your carrots into thin strips. For the cucumber, scoop out the inside that is more soft, and then cut into thin strips. 

Assembly: lay a whole wheat tortilla on a cutting board. Add lettuce, chicken pieces, carrot and cucumber strips. Drizzle on peanut sauce and some extra peanuts. Roll the tortilla up tightly and enjoy! I cut mine in half so it was easier to eat. 

Butternut Squash Risotto

I love pioneer woman. She always has the best recipes. I spent way too much time on her website today  looking at recipes. I had a butternut squash that I wanted to use, but I didn't want to make the butternut squash pasta I usually make (although I love it, I just wanted to try something else). I found pioneer woman's recipe for butternut squash risotto. I trust her greatness so followed the recipe pretty closely.

My adjustments to the recipe:

• Before I added the chicken stock, I put in some wine. I think every risotto should have wine. 
• The measurements I used were a little different because I didn't want to make enough for 8 people. 
• I didn't have any tumeric, so I didn't put that in. 
• I added garlic to the sweet potato and the onions. 
• I'd never put cream in risotto before, but I went for it. Probably less than she suggested. 
• I didn't have any parsley, but I added a bunch of kale to the risotto. Excellent choice. 

Blue Cheese Burger and Sweet Potato Fries

A housemate suggested that I make homemade burgers with blue cheese. I thought what a wonderful idea. Now, I'm not the biggest fan of blue cheese, but I've had it a few times and when it's mild, it's quite delicious.

To make the burger: mix ground beef, chopped onions, egg, ketchup, worcestershire sauce, garlic, salt, pepper, and bread crumbs. I don't measure any of this and the measurements will vary depending on how much beef you're using. Form a 'smaller' patty than what you want and  put a 'crater' in it. Fill with cheese. Make a small patty and put on top, moulding it closed. I cooked mine on the George Foreman, probably for about 15 minutes. The blue cheese ended up sort of melting through the burger instead of all being in the middle. I liked this because it made the blue cheese more subtle and sort of all out.

I topped it with fried onions, mushrooms, kale, bacon and bbq sauce. YUM.

For the sweet potato fries: pre-heat the oven at 450. Wash potato, cut into desired size. I cut mine in half first and then worked off that for desired pieces. Mix with olive oil (not too much, you don't want them to be soggy), salt, pepper, thyme and garlic. Bake for 15 minutes and then turn over. Bake for another 10 minutes.

Sweet Potato Skins

I don't really understand it, but I used to hate sweet potatoes (or so I thought). Even this past summer someone asked me 'why didn't you get the sweet potato fries?! they're so much better than regular fries!' and I simply replied with 'I don't like sweet potato'. I guess i'd never really had them. Oh god. I take after my grandpa. For years and years he would say he hated some sort of food (i.e., pumpkin pie) until my grandma or parents would give it to him and tell him it was something completely different and he'd exclaim 'what is this? it's delicious!' and boom, it'd become his favourite. Well... I guess I'm growing up because I love sweet potatoes!

I recently made a garlic sweet potato mash and it was scrumptious. Last night I was still having my craving for sweet potato from the day before so I went onto yummly and searched 'sweet potato' to see how I wanted to cook them. I found a few intriguing recipes, but the winner was sweet potato skins with bacon . YUM! They were good. The picture shows that there is only half a potato on my plate... I'll admit, after I took a bite I put the second half on my plate. Don't judge me. 

I followed the directions pretty much. I took my sweet potato out at 40 minutes and it seemed done enough. It cut in half very easily, but some part on the inside were still not quite cooked so they were a little hard to scrape out. Next time I'll keep it in for 45 minutes. As for my additions, I added garlic and fresh thyme to the potato mixture. Because why not. I also did not have any heavy cream so I just used a little butter and some milk. 

Served with: baked chicken (dijon, lemon, thyme, garlic, olive oil, s&p) and broccoli. 

Penne with Chicken and a Feta Sauce

I couldn't decide what to make for dinner last night. I had sweet potatoes and wanted to do something with them, but I really wanted pasta for some reasoning (what else is new...). Early in the day I saw a recipe for a feta cheese sauce over chicken on Pinterest. I was intrigued, but in seemed like a weird recipe to me. I was telling my sister about this and she tried to find the recipe but ended up finding a different one. I liked this recipe better because I didn't have to do go the grocery store. The recipe I used was served on flank steak, which I unfortunately did not have, so I stuck with chicken. 

Back to me wanting pasta... I decided to turn the feta sauce into a pasta sauce. I followed the instructions, but after only 1/4 of a cup of feta it wasn't cheesy enough for me. I probably added, in total, 3/4 of a cup of feta. After finally tasting it and with invisioning how the rest of the dinner would come together, I tossed in a few pinches of thyme for more flavour.

While making the sauce, I fried up some mushrooms, onions and garlic. When the sauce was done I added the fried mushrooms/onions/garlic to it. In that pan, I then fried up some bite size chicken pieces. I didn't marinate the chicken at all, just put some salt and pepper and a little garlic in the pan with some olive oil. When the chicken was done I tossed in some spinach and let it wilt. When this was all done also added it to the sauce. Should I make this again, I'd add way more spinach. I was nearing the end of my container so just through what I had left in, but I really like what it added.

I mixed it with some penne and added a sprinkle of feta on top. This was definitely something that should be filed under 'delicious but totally not healthy'. It reminded me of homemade macaroni and cheese. It basically was, just with feta instead of cheddar or some other type of cheese. Tossing this in a casserole dish and putting some bread crumbs and feta on top and tossing it under the broiler for a bit would probably have been delicious, but I always find that not entirely necessary. It just takes longer and I'm pretty impatient. 

Beef Pockets

Working from the Chicken Pocket recipe from the other night, I made a beef version. I can't decide which I liked better. I think the chicken one. Maybe if I had put more cheese in the beef pocket, it would have been better.

Before you start, make sure your puff pastry has 'defrosted' for 2 hours in the fridge or overnight.

1. Preheat the oven to 400.
2. Fry up some ground beef, put aside.
3. Fry up onions and peppers (I used red, yellow and orange) in some butter (in the ground beef pan). Add some garlic and continue to fry.
4. Add the beef back to the pan and add some taco seasoning to taste. (I had some left over from when I made tacos a while ago - maybe 1/2 a package).
5. Unfold your pastry sheet (onto a floured surface - or keep it on the parchment paper it came with)
6. Spread softened cream cheese evenly over pastry sheet leaving about 1/2 inch space along the edges.
7. Evenly spread fresh spinach over 1/2 the puff pastry sheet, again leaving 1/2 inch space along the edges.
8. Evenly spread the beef/vegetable mixture on top of the spinach, again leaving 1/2 inch space along the edges.
9. Top with desired amount of cheese. (I used mozzarella because I had it. Cheddar would have been good too. Or both. Maybe do both).
10. Bake for 20 minutes and enjoy! Be careful, the insides get very hot!

I think these puff pastry things are going to be my new thing. I'm going to try making a dessert. I'm thinking raspberry, strawberry and cream cheese filled or something. We shall see!

My sister made her own 'vegetarian' version of this tonight as well. She filled it with caramelized onions, roasted butternut squash (bite sized pieces tossed with olive oil, salt & pepper, and hot pepper flakes and bake for 30-40 minutes at 400), spinach, parmesan, cream cheese and mozzarella. She said it was super tasty... and it sounds like it to me!

She also folded it differently, but it looks kind of cool this way. Perhaps I will do my dessert like this!

Greek Spinach Feta Chicken Pockets

Judging from the amount of cheese in this recipe, I'm going to go with it was not healthy... but oh boy was it delicious! Tonight I was able to make the Greek Spinach Feta Chicken Pockets.

Besides the fact that I marinated the chicken 'Greek style' (olive oil, lemon, garlic, oregano, s&p, and some hot pepper flakes), which was not suggested by the original blogger, the only thing 'Greek' about this was the use of feta cheese. Nonetheless, I like what the feta added (on top of just having mozzarella and cream cheese).

I ate it with a little Greek salad I whipped up (cucumber, feta, tomato with olive oil, lemon juice, s&p and oregano on top) for some added Greek-ness.

I'd never made anything like this before and as I was adding ingredient after ingredient like the instructions suggested I started to worry that my puff pastry sheet wasn't big enough (it was!). Cheese on top of cheese, on top of chicken and onions, on top of spinach... it was getting pretty piled high! Surprisingly, for me who loves cheese so much, I didn't even put all the mozzarella it suggested because I didn't think it'd close.

It did in fact end up closing, fairly easily. You just have to stretch the pastry over top and work with the insides. After i'd closed it up I was able to push it down with no fight. I probably could have put the remaining cheese in, but I didn't want to open it again!

The only thing I did differently than the original instructions suggested was using fresh spinach instead of frozen (and then thawed) spinach. I had a container of spinach and didn't feel the need to go buy frozen spinach. I think the fresh spinach worked just perfectly!

The original recipe did not say how many servings this would yield, but my guess is anywhere from 2-6 people. Depending on what else you're serving it with and how hungry people are. It's pretty big and filling, so not suggested to eat the whole thing at once!