Monday, January 27, 2014

Cucumber & Tomato Salad

Back in September, I bought a kitchen gadget for myself as a birthday present.  I thought it would be a neat, useful tool, and would maybe use it every once in a while for fun.  Boy, was I wrong – I use it all the time!  The gadget, called “the Spiralizer,” cuts vegetables into noodles of different thickness, depending on what blade you insert.  This is especially handy, since I’ve been trying to reduce my gluten and processed foods intake.  Now, I can make noodles from cucumbers, potatoes, squash, yam and zucchini – you name it!  It’s something that I’m happy to have, and I’m even happier to be able to share this recipe (as well as others I have planned!) with you. 

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Roasted Potato Salad with Honey-Mustard Dressing

I get so excited about food-especially at this time of year.  These new potatoes are from my parent’s garden and I’ve been reeking in the benefits of their hard labor.   They’ve supplied me with produce for the past few weeks and I love it!  I’ve been dreaming of making this salad long before the potatoes were ready so I was pretty stoked to receive them.  The options are endless-although they are perfect just boiled.  No need to add butter with these babies-they melt in your mouth!

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Quinoa with Roasted Beets & Chive Vinaigrette

Quinoa…my favorite super food.  I’ve posted just a few of my favorite recipes.    Now I am adding another to this blog, and I sincerely hope you like it.  The earthy flavors from the beets pairs well with roasted garlic, feta & toasted walnuts and give this salad a nice flavor.  I’ve usually served this as a side to chicken, but I suppose any meat will do.  Or even by itself!  The vinaigrette isn’t overpowering, but subtle-which is why it goes so well with this salad. 

Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012

Christmas Salad

I am starting to get really excited about Christmas…It’s only a month away!!  Therefore, I am going to start posting festive recipes.  Such as this one…a favorite of mine!  I’m hoping to share a variety of recipes that you will enjoy for the Christmas season….stay tuned! J 

Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012

Brown-Rice Salad with Spinach and Tomatoes

Did everyone have a lovely long weekend?  We sure did.  Gavin and I went camping overnight on our favorite lake, and despite the blustery weather we had for the majority of the trip, we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly and can’t wait to do it again.  We were lucky enough to catch some fish to take home with us the next day.  I was so excited to eat it-Gavin is the ‘king’ of cooking fish.  So I, quite happily, settled on making a side salad.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Wild & Wonderful Salad

A couple years back, I attended a course in Vancouver for work.  We had lunch provided by a catering company (for the life of me I can’t remember what it’s called) and had this wonderful salad.  We picked apart this salad over lunch and the next day, our instructor provided us the actual recipe.  Over the years, I’ve made and altered this recipe plenty of times to the point where I don’t need the original recipe.  And now that I completely lost it, I am sad to say I don’t know where or who to give this recipe credit to.   So if anyone recognizes it, please let me know and I will gladly source it! 

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Earth Day + Oven Roasted Smoky Potatoes

Charlee (my older sister) and I at my dad's booth at our local farmers market.

Happy Earth Day!  It’s that time of year (although we should be doing it everyday!) to set goals in which we should evaluate ways to conserve the environment and save our beautiful planet.  There is always ways in which we could improve our methods to reduce consumption and waste, such as the use of reusable bags, composting, buying local/having your own garden, using less electricity, carpooling/walking, ect.  These are just a few ideas but the options are endless.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Lemon Orzo with Basil and Parmesan

I'm always up for trying new things, especially if I can use it as a side dish.  I feel that I am lacking inspiration in that department, so I am trying to make up for it.  I haven't really heard of orzo before,  so I was curious to find out more about it. It turns out that there isn't a whole lot of history available online for this pasta, but 'orzo' means barley in Italian (and was made from barley back then) but is now made from durum semolina wheat.  It's appearance is similar to rice, but smaller than a pine nut.  Orzo is an extremely versatile pasta-it can be used as an alternative for rice-like dishes, such as risottos (you might say 'orzotto's'!), casseroles, or served as a salad, ect.  It tastes great hot or cold, I've learned!

Monday, March 26, 2012

Black Beans with Roasted Tomatoes and Feta 

I have one thing to say about this recipe: It’s one of my favorites. Plain and simple.  I make it every chance I get.  I never really cared for black beans until I made this salad; now I can’t get enough of the stuff!  I love how simple the ingredients are and how well they work together.  It’s fairly quick to prep; however, the tomatoes take 40 minutes to roast.  It’s a healthy side for any meal.  It’s paired nicely with chicken, fish or actually, any Mexican dish.  I just love this salad-I’m too stubborn to find anything else!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Cream Biscuits with Cheddar Cheese                                                       
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I found it difficult in the past to find a good biscuit recipe.  I only have two simple requirements: one, that you can eat it for breakfast without it being too greasy, two a side accompaniment for a meal.  This biscuit accomplishes both of my requirements, and it’s incredibly simple to make.  I made this recipe once with heavy cream and once with buttermilk.  I didn’t notice too much of a difference, but Gavin preferred the buttermilk version.  All of these ingredients are likely in your household already.