Cheddar, Chive and Corn Pancakes

This morning I made Cade some raspberry lemon pancakes, butI felt like a salty dish for myself. I decided to try making a savoury pancake. OMG, it was SO SO SO good. This is clearly because I am the world's best savoury pancake maker, at first shot!

I used:

A whole wheat basic pancake mix (with their instructions/milk).

One egg

1/2 cup of extra aged white cheddar

2tbps of chopped chives

1/4 cup of frozen sweet corn

I also added 1/4 cup of flax meal

S&P

I made some of those frozen section hashbrowns, don't start on me-they're easy! I had a little sour cream on the side. Think latkes, with no potato. Mmmmmmmmm.

Portabello Yumminess

Hey, hey you Hollystar! I'm doing a WFDL? tonight.

Easy yummy portabello stack.

1 portabello mushroom, marinated in balsamic vinaigrette.
Grill the sucker on the BBQ

Top with 1/2 of a mashed avocado and 2 thick slices of smoked gouda.

Broil until cheese bubbles. Eat immediately and plan the next time you can make it again.

I ate mine with roasted corn.

Simple Maple Sweet Potatoes

2 large sweet potatoes
1/2 cup of your favourite maple syrup
3 tbsp of brown sugar
1/2 tsp of fresh ground black pepper
1/2 tsp of nutmeg
1 tsp of cinnamon
3 tbsp of butter

Peel and dice sweet potatoes. Boil potatoes until soft. Mash with remaining ingredients. Alternately, they are great when you roast them, then mash them. I generally roast with the brown sugar on, then mash with all other ingredients.

Sweet and delish. I make these at Christmas and Thanksgiving.

Long laboursome lasagna

This takes forever, it's SO good though. I made it up one day and it's worth the time...

Ingredient List
4 cups bechamel sauce (I made it from scratch but you could also use your favourite white sauce).
3 cups of slow roasted tomatoes (receipe to follow).
1 box of lasagna noodles that don't need pre-cooking (or feel free to make your own).
3 cups of mozza/asiago and parmesan mixed together.
1 tub of smooth ricotta, 1 cup of marscapone cheese. (called the wet cheese mix)
1 large roasted and mashed butternut squash (roast with a bit of butter and maple syrup or brown sugar).

Layers
Bottom of pan:
A slim coat of sauce.
Noodles
Squash then 1/2 wet cheese mix
Noodles
Roasted tomatoes then 1/2 wet cheese mix then sauce
Noodles
Sauce
All of the dry cheese mix.

Bake until noodles are cooked and cheese bubbles. Let sit for about 20 mins to ensure maximum sticky-togetherness.

Slow Roasted Tomatoes
These shrink A LOT. You need at least 6-7 medium tomatoes for a cup of roasted ones. Clean, halve, and season with your favourite herbs and a bit of black pepper. Leave the salt out until they are cooked. Roast in your oven at about 250 for 8 hours. Roast seeded side up. They taste SO good. It's a perfect way to keep summer tomatoes, they freeze great. Your house will smell awsome as well. Also good in grilled sandwiches and olive oil based pasta dishes. Also good for tomatoes that are about to go bad.

I've been slacking

I've been slacking and instead of doing my own recipe i'm going to give you my top 5 salad entrees - I am currently on a salad kick!

1) Moxie's - Thai Chicken Noodle Salad - huge portion, lots of greens, delicious noodles and comes with yummy banana bread!

2) Boston Pizza - Spinach Salad - Spinach, Egg, Bacon, carrots and dressing. Crisp and Delish

3) McDonalds - Oriental Salad - Chicken (grilled or crispy) great dressing and crispy "chips" very low in calories!

4) White Spot - Grilled Chicken - Grapes and vinaigrette dressing with a splash of peanuts

5) My own - Mixed greens, Raspberries, Peanuts and Balsamic vinegar!

Enjoy!

places to go: Salumi

i dont have a ton of time to write my exact thoughts and feelings on this place, but frommer's review sums it up pretty well:

Frommer's Review
"For many folks, salami is a guilty pleasure. We all know it has a lot of fat, but it tastes too good to resist. Now, raise the bar on salami, and you have the artisan-cured meats of this closet-size eatery near Pioneer Square. The owner, Armandino Batali, who happens to be the father of New York's famous chef Mario Batali, makes all his own salami (as well as traditional Italian-cured beef tongue). Order up a meat plate with a side of cheese and some roasted red bell peppers, pour yourself a glass of wine from the big bottle on the table, and you have a perfect lunchtime repast in the classic Italian style. Did I mention the great breads and tapenades? Wow! If you're down in the Pioneer Square area at lunch, don't miss this place (even if there's a long line)."

the breads werent so great, but they had a wonderdul, traditional beed/spinach canalloni. suprisingly NOT heavy for a canalloni. and the meat&cheese plate is NOT to be missed oh, and i totally agree with the glass of wine. they had some pretty dang drinkable table wine. they DID have a good vegetarian sammich along with their other sammiches. one of the people in our party got said sammich and was very pleased with roasted balsamic veggies, but thought the bread was a let down (most of us thought the bread was a let down though.) i'de definately eat there again...

**sorry for no photos. hotel wireless is the suck.**

Pizza

From a box, in a frozen section. Yum.

No, but seriously, it's so GOOD. Palermo's Organic Hearth Baked Spinach and Feta. All words deserve capitalization because really, it's that good.

Where can I buy this wonderful pizza you ask? Why, from Costco, that where.

You wanna know where I am right now? At work, telling you about pizza. What a stellar employee I am.

WFDL?

i have done three things today:
1) i went to the dentist to get an impression for a crown
2) i took the child to the park
3) i joined weight watchers

now, i plan to do one more thing:
go to taco bell for dinner.

sorry. i got nothing.

Stuffed Pasta Shells ( or as Hollystar calls it WFDL?)

This was tonights Dinner at KiS's house....

1 box of pasta shells (about 4 cups cooked, medium)

1 medium sized container of extra smooth ricotta
3/4 cup of fresh finely chopped parsley
2 tbsp of minced sundried tomatoes
1 clove of minced garlic
4 minced green onions
1/2 tsp of sea salt
1/2 tsp of fresh ground pepper
1 tbsp of garlic and herb Epicure spcie mix (optional)

Mix it all together and set aside until pasta is cooked al dente (and cooled with cold water). Pre-heat oven to 350degrees.

A jar of your favourite pasta sauce (of homemade if your ambitious)
1 small tin of tomato paste

Place a slim coat of sauce along the bottom of a baking dish (about 1/3 of your sauce).

1 cup of grated mozza
1 cup of freshly grated parmesan

Stuff shells with ricotta mixture and line up on their sides over the pasta sauce. Cover with remaining pasta sauce and mozza/parm mixture.

Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes then broil until cheese is bubbling. Sit down and eat.

Side note: this serves about 6 or 8 as sides. It isn't a cheap dish but would make great lunches as well.

WFDL?

tonight i'm planning on giving my husband a frozen garlic chicken pizza from california pizza kitchen to deal with.

see, every firday night my deal is to abandon my family and go "crop" (aka. work on my paper projectts) at a local scrapbooking store and force said family to feed themselves. good tradition eh? anyone else have any friday night plans (regular or not)?

Eat your vegetables!

Here are some simple sides for your tasting pleasure.

Warm Chickpeas
Can of chickpeas, well rinsed.
Sea salt.
Fresh ground pepper.
2 tbsp olive oil.

Warm on medium in a pan. The longer you warm the better they taste. 20 minutes makes them irresistable.

Pan-roasted Asparagus
Clean, clipped asparagus.
2 tbsp of your favourite balsamic vinaigre.
2 tbsp of olive oil.
1 clove of pressed garlic.
Sea salt and pepper.

Saute in a pan on medium for about 10 minutes.

Grilled Peppers
2 red, yellow or orange peppers.
4tbsp of your favourite vinaigrette.

Seed and quarter the peppers, toss in vinaigrette and grill on the BBQ for about 10 mins on medium heat. A slight char is the best.

Lemon Rosemary Potatoes
1/4 red onion, minced
a few pinches of chili flakes
3 cups of halved nuggest potatoes (pre-boil for about 8 minutes or until tender)
1/2 of a squeezed lemon (juice)
1 clove of garlic (minced)
Sea salt and pepper to taste.
1/2 tsp of rosemary (dried is ok)

Mix it all together, wrap well with aluminum foil and toss on the BBQ for about 15 minutes.

Get inspired

Is anyone else addicted to the food network? Or just generally addicted to food shows?
My favs: Barefoot Contessa, Nigella, and Tyler's Ultimate. Guilty pleasures.

Not so guilt free salad

So my husband thinks that I am the queen of salads. I guess this is because they don't generally involve cooking and you can't really screw them up. Here is one of my tried but true leafy creations.

Salad
Mixed greens
Dried cranberries
Crumbled feta
Toasted slivered almonds
Sliced mandarins or strawberries

I didn't give quantities because it's really up to you.

Dressing-tastes much better made one day early
1/2-3/4 cup of grapeseed oil (vary the oil amount to your taste preference)
1/4 cup of your favourite balsamic vinager (we like fig flavoured)
1 clove of garlic pressed
1 tsp of grainy mustard
Sea salt and ground pepper

Mix it all together and let it sit, in the fridge, over night. If you don't press the garlic then you can remove it afer 24 hours. I once used garlic powder and it was OK, not the same but decent.

Healthy Breakfast To Start Your Day!

Since the last post was for Dinner - I thought I'd post my new favorite breakfast! It's healthy for you and you can play around with the ingredients to suite your tastes. It is also quick for those rushed mornings! Here is my version and it gets the kids eating a healthy breakfast too!


1 - Frozen Waffle lightly toasted
1/4 cup - Vanilla Sugar-Free Yogurt
1/4 cup - Sliced Peaches (Warm in microwave for 1 minute) Fresh or Canned
1/4 cup - Fresh or Frozen Raspberries
1/4 cup - Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal
Sprinkle of Almonds


Top Waffle with remaining ingredients and serve immediately.

WFDL? (version: DAY ONE!)

WFDL? what the heck? What with people on the internet? why cant they use real words and what is WFDL supposed to mean?!?!

Easy. People on the internet are just lazy and just dont have the time to type out proper engrish. (yes, i said engrish!) As for WFDL? it means "What's For Dinner, Lady?"

In WFDL? posts you will find our dinner plans for that evening. we ask that you just comment what you’re cooking/picking up for dinner tonight too! Hopefully this will help inspire the uninspired to have something yummy for dinner tonight!!!

Tonight for dinner I’m doing a cheese ravioli with a roasted garlic and vegetable sauce. There may possibly be a green salad with homemade balsamic vinaigrette(recipe below) as well. The toddler side tonight will be steamed peas and carrots. Yum…


Easy Balsamic Vinaigrette
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
¾ cup olive oil
¼ cup freshly grated parmesan
Pepper to taste.

In a small bowl, whisk all ingredients together. Toss with yummy leafy greens for a fresh addition to any meal! Chill remainder of vinaigrette in an airtight container to use again. Before next service, take out 30min prior to serving to bring to room temperature. Once vinaigrette is warmed, shake well and serve.

HAPPY DINNER!!!!

Our constitution

Shall we have rules, or guidelines? A weekly post? My contribution will be meatless, you can contribute your preferences. What are your thoughts? I can't commit to foodie photos. I can do the weekly thing, you never know what I'll bring to our dinner date, maybe pancakes, maybe fudge, maybe salad, maybe pasta, maybe something new and exciting. What are YOU bringing to dinner?