Presto pesto.

Few ingredients make summer fresh pesto.

The rain seems to have subsided for a couple days at least and was able to get in the garden and harvest buckets of basil.


In the past I have attempted at growing herbs from seeds but have had no luck starting them indoors as they get attacked by all kinds of ailments. To make my gardening life a little easier I cheat and buy my basil plants early in the spring and plop them in the ground next to my seeds. Luckily this year the plants were growing like weeds. Who wants to weed when the sun is shining and the pool looks so tempting?!

Blended in a food processor.

I don't want my basil plants to go to seed for two reasons: they slow down growing and tend to make the leaves taste more bitter. I made my first batch of pesto to keep up with the amount of basil this year. Since my tomatoes won't be ready until August caprese salads will have to wait. (insert sad face here) 

Pesto is a great to have on hand once winter comes when we need to be reminded of all of the goodness that summer provides. I use it in pasta, pesto aioli, dressings and to even make fish less fishy.  

I've used Jamie Oliver's recipe without the lemon juice and pour the pesto into ice cube trays or little muffin tins and freeze overnight. I pop them out and store in ziploc bags in the freezer when I need a little summer love in my food. 

Welcome landlubber! (An ode to Mila, my little Newfie niece)

Baby Mila 

Baby Mila has arrived and since she is half-Newfie I figured a fish dinner was a fun way to welcome her into this world. 

Mila's grandfather has been a fisherman for his entire life and he has  been fortunate enough to see whales, sea turtles and fish of all kinds, including tuna. 

Local goodness.

Frozen tuna steaks found buried in our freezer and needing to be used became a quick, filling and tasty meal. My mom and I love seafood, we're convinced that we should've been born out East because we love it so much. So thankfully with Mila and Meagan in our lives we will be travelling to the rock frequently.

Using the first of Niagara's asparagus mixed with my baby lettuce leaves from the garden this salad was a warm welcome with all of the rain we've been having this spring. I made a green goddess dressing that I found on Pinterest.....again. It is refreshing, yummy and healthy. Find the recipe here from the Lemon Bowls blog. She has delicious and healthy recipes for all kinds of stuff. Definitely worth a look at if your looking to clean up your eating. 

With BBQ season just around the corner, these steaks would be fantastic done on the grill with a cold one and some good tunes playing by!

Tom Yummy

Mommy wow! I vlogged for the first time now. This weeks dinner was Asian inspired again and it was soup because it was a cold, damp, rainy day. This sweet and spicy soup is great this time of year because its has all of the ingredients that ward off colds, spice from chiles, garlic, onion and broth. 

It doesn't normally call for noodles but I added rice vermicelli noodles to make it a bit more filling.

Warm up your heart and feet and find the recipe here.

Asian Invasion

Wrap deliciousness!

I recently found a recipe for Asian inspired chicken wraps on Pinterest. I love anything Asian inspired because it usually so fresh tasting with a hint of spice. I find Asian food has so much depth of flavour. Its probably just because I love citrusy, garlicy, and cilantro so much.

The wrap was extremely easy to make, and I mean easy. All you have to do for this recipe is cook chicken and make a peanut sauce. All of the other ingredients are ready to put into the wrap, you toss chicken and sauce on top and BAM! just like Emeril, you have lunch or dinner.

I have not made any Asian yet for my blog and to be honest its because I used to be a stir-fry whore in university. I would literally make stir-fry's at least three times a week. So I apologize if I am disappointing anyone with this news but this blog is a no stir-fry zone. 
Just to clarify, I do make stir-frys still but since I make them so much and I am trying new recipes in this blog I won't be making one unless its a brand new one that I haven't tried. I'm open to suggestions fellow bloggers.

I would highly recommend anyone to try this recipe because it uses ingredients almost everyone has sitting in their cupboards and it's so damn tasty! If you wanted a vegetarian version I would saute firm tofu in the sauce that I cooked the chicken in. 

Find this awesomely Asian wrap recipe here. 

Enjoy cooking friends! 

Just before assembling the wraps.

Mmmmmussels

Creamy, curried and yummy.

Mussels is the quintessential entertaining meal. They are easy, delicious and fun to eat. For a quick dinner Saturday I bought some mussels and fresh bread at Superstore and voila dinner is made.  
Well…its not quite that easy. The broth is the most difficult part. There are several different broths I like to make to cook mymussels in but I decided on making a brand new curry coconut flavoured broth. It again took a couple of ingredients because unless I'm in the mood to spend all day in the kitchen I like to make something quick, easy, tasty and somewhat healthy. In all honesty the entire process took me about half of an hour and we were filling our bellies with seafood before I knew it.

So in the middle of February why not look ahead to the long, hot summer nights when seafood seems to be the food of the season. Get some friends, a good bottle of wine (or beer) and laugh, eat, drink and dig into some mussels.

Just a couple of tasty ingredients.

Check out Curried Coconut Mussel recipe, I created here.

Mexican Madness

Mexican right at home.

Ingredients for guacamole.

In spirit of my upcoming trip to Mexico I made fajitas. Most people have made tacos and fajitas including me, however I have never made homemade tortillas or my own Mexican seasoning.  Fajitas are quite easy, I chopped the chicken and fried it up with the peppers and onions and added my Mexican seasoning at the end. The Mexican seasoning recipe was found on Pintrest, I love that website. It could occupy me for hours.

Like a pancake, but better.

I pre-made guacamole as a garnish that we could accompany our fajitas with. I started making this particular recipe from The Healthy College Cookbook I bought myself in university knowing I wouldn't have a lot of time to cook.

Guacamole.

Much like the pasta dough the tortilla dough only had a few ingredients and was easy to make.  The only time consuming part is rolling out your dough and frying up each individual tortilla. But the little amount of work I had to do paid off and was well worth the final product. 

Cooking the onions, peppers and chicken.

If you feel a little SAD cause of the winter weather and lack of sunshine make some Mexican food, turn on the white noise app with some soothing beach waves crashing and pretend your on a sandy beach drinking a margarita. Andele! 

Caesar--its all in the name.

Just a quick post to share my vegan caesar salad dressing.  I got the recipe from my ex, the professional cook and memorized all of the ingredients. I have been making it for over 2 years now and don't/haven't ever used actual measurements.

Vegan Caesar Dressing

1/2 cup of cashews or any oily nut 

2 cups olive oil

1 cup lemon juice

1 clove of garlic

4 tbsp dijon mustard

2 tsp Frank's hot sauce

salt and pepper to taste

Put the cashews, 1 cup olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, hot sauce and mustard into a food processor and combine.

While the machine is on, slowly add the rest of your olive oil, emulsifying all of your ingredients so they are combined.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

All ingredients combined should form a creamy dressing that you can use on any type of greens.

NOTE: if you find your dressing tasting like garlic add more oil and lemon juice. Adjust the dressing to how you prefer it to taste. At my house we love garlic so much you'd think the vampire apocalypse is coming.

Food for thought.

 I cannot distinctively remember when I began cooking, or even why I started. It has become one of my favourite daily activities and I am often thinking about my next meal. 
I had the benefits of dating a chef who exposed me to 5-diamond dining, bizarre ingredients and a wealth of knowledge. Also, planning and tending to my vegetable garden for the past few years has increased my love for food and its my inspiration during the warmer months. I'm constantly picking up food magazines and browsing through cookbooks wherever I go.  Talking to people about food at work (I'm a server), asking questions and listening to how people make recipes they like are ways that I enhance my knowledge in the cooking world. 

But enough about me, onto the good stuff.

Dinner tonight: Butter Chicken

Most essential part-the sauce.

chopped chicken breast

On this extremely cold, winter day I was inspired by the warm, welcoming flavours of India. I was craving something stew-like that was hearty and filling. The kind of food that warms you from the inside out. I decided on butter chicken. I looked online for some inspiration and came across a fantastic recipe that seemed straightforward and it really was. 

For the recipe click here.


Bon appetit friends!














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